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Contents
Naked Cycle Advocacy	1
Our Favourite Rides – Botany Bay Bacon	2
Update from the President	2
Cycling Issue of the Month	3
Lane Cove Tunnel – Update	4
National Ride to Work Day	4
6^th BN Century Challenge	5
Diary Dates	5
Test ride: Great Cycling Rides in NSW	6
ICE = In Case of Emergency	6
Celebration: the Ride of Her Life	7
Buying a Bike: 101	8
Bicycle NSW Ride Leader Course	9
Tour de Forbes 2007	9
Calendar
Other Editions

Editor: Jennifer Gilmore
Production: Keith Griffin

The views expressed in Chain Mail articles are those of the authors only and do not necessarily represent either the common views shared by a majority of Bike North members, or Bike North policy as formulated by the Bike North Executive Committee.

Naked Cycle Advocacy

What with smog and congestion, biking through the world's big cities is hard yakka. Thousands of cyclists - all completely naked - took to city streets on Saturday 9 June to protest car culture.

Rule number one in getting your voice heard is to attract a bit of attention. Which is what the organizers of Saturday's fourth annual World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) seem to have little trouble doing. WNBR advocates and celebrates sustainable energy, environmentally-responsible living, human-powered transport and body-positive values.

Free-wheeling cyclists stripped down and took to the streets of London, Madrid, Vancouver, Washington D.C. and Mexico City among others to do birthday-suit battle against global car culture. The cheeky protest was to draw attention to biker-unfriendly urban congestion and to the over-reliance on fossil fuels that is damaging to the environment.

"It is time more motorists stripped off their armour-plating and moved around more gently on this earth," London cycle protester Duncan Blinkhorn. "Bikes and naked bodies harm nobody. Car fumes and accidents kill tens of thousands every year in the UK alone and are driving us all to climate chaos."

In London, traffic came to a standstill as the naked bunch biked by, with observers gawking and taking pictures with their mobile phones. The authorities let the demonstration go ahead, as it had been registered beforehand with police. But the nude bike ride was quickly halted in Paris, with the police ordering the 400-strong group to put their clothes back on - though not before attracting a bit of attention to their cause.

Aussies have begun to join in the fun at Naked Bike Rides held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Newcastle on 10 March this year. Plans are afoot for "World Naked Bike Ride" to attract even more attention on 8 March 2008 with proposed rides in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, SYDNEY and Tweed Heads.