Hundreds of cyclists filled St. Louis streets on Saturday for a nearly 15-mile route wearing costumes and riding decorated bikes in various states of dress — some fully naked.
This was the World Naked Bike Ride, which began in 2004 as a protest against car culture and to promote the vulnerability of cyclists on the road but has erupted into an event around the globe. It made its way to St. Louis in 2007 and attracts cyclists from all over to the Midwest.
In the event's 17th year in St. Louis, the organization invited riders to go “bare as you dare” in an inclusive, body-positive event.
The ride started in the Grove and traveled through neighborhoods including Lafayette Square, Downtown and Tower Grove before reaching the finish line in the Grove. The long stretch of bikes consumed the roadway along its path, stopping cars and drawing spectators along sidewalks and side streets.
A tall, cherry-red bike that towers over the rest, modified to look like a car from the late ‘50s, is an ode to Charlie Wolters’ childhood.
“When I was a kid, I used to always imagine my bicycle was a car, and when I was a kid, cars had tailfins,” Wolters said. “So that's why the name Fins is written on the side.”
The 73-year-old resident of the Webster Grove area began participating in 2009, and he’s watched it grow into what it is today. The sense of community that attracts most riders isn't the appeal for Wolters.
“The naked bike ride, what it does for me is the adrenaline boost, the adrenaline will fix any problem,” Wolters said. “It just makes me feel younger, that's what is so neat about this ride.”
Dozens of spectators lined the streets with chairs and blankets to cheer on cyclists as they passed Tower Grove Park, rounding the corner from Magnolia Avenue onto South 39th Street — a common scene along the route.
“I think it’s great that people are moving away from this Victorian mentality of body-shaming what we all have to look this way or whatever,” Curtis Paproth, a Tower Grove resident who watched the event with a group of friends, said. “We’re just letting it all hang out, and we’re being ourselves, and that’s wonderful.”
Before and after the nearly two-hour ride, the Grove bustled with costume contests, street festivities and live entertainment well into the night marked with much cooler weather compared to the recent heat wave.
“I think it’s like a really body-positive scenario, and it’s very community based,” said Kaity Hussey, who attended the street festivities dressed as a goblin. “We see a lot of those people who are involved in the weekly, monthly bike rides all come together and then even more people who are very body-centric and positive come out and just be able to be themselves.”
