Dozens of naked cyclists join annual York protest ride

The group, which also included a nude jogger, gathered near Millennium Bridge on Saturday afternoon (September 12) before setting off at 4pm on an 11km route around York.

It was the 18th World Naked Bike Ride event to be held in York, aiming to highlight the dangers faced by cyclists on roads dominated by motor vehicles while raising awareness about the environmental impact of fossil-fuel-dependent transport.

Organiser Sadie Tann, a naturist from near Manchester, said she decided to lead the group to ensure the message continued for another year.

“It’s a scream, it’s great!” she said when asked how it feels to cycle through York naked.

The naked bike ride returned to York for its 18th year on Saturday (September 12) (Image: Dylan Connell)

A naked bike ride attendee in York on Saturday (September 12) (Image: Dylan Connell)

Sadie, 36, said she has been a naturist – a person who practises non-sexual social nudity – since she was 12 after being brought up in foster care and struggling with her body and confidence.

“I always struggled with me – just the core of me,” she said. “But naturism is just a release from that.

“It helps me to feel like me, without all the stuff we weigh ourselves down with – all the modern-day stuff that we don’t really need to be worrying about. I manage to get rid off all that as soon as I take my clothes off.”

She started being a naturist in public around six years and with her partner, Colin Unsworth, now even goes to the pub and to gigs naked which she said is “amazing”.

“The village where we live has got quite used to us being naked,” she said, adding: “It makes getting ready really easy as well!”

Sadie and Colin made headlines in 2022 after they cycled naked from John O’Groats to Land’s End to raise money for mental health charity Mind.

“It was cold,” Sadie said of the more than 874-mile journey.

‘It’s a scream, it’s great’ … Naked bike ride returns to York on Saturday (September 12) (Image: Dylan Connell)

Sadie said she spends most of her life nude because “this is who I am”. “It’s more for acceptance.”

She said she has experienced misogynistic comments from men while clothed but not when nude because “they just don’t know what to do with it”.

“We do get the odd person who can see past that and is very inspired by it,” she added. “We don’t want people to run around naked – that’s not what this is about – it’s about making people feel that they can be themselves however that is.”

‘We are told to fear nudity before we are taught to understand it’

John Cossham was also in attendance at the naked bike ride and said attitudes towards cyclists “haven’t really changed much” in the almost two decades that he has been involved with the event in York.

He said cars have become larger and roads busier with fewer cyclists on the roads than there once were.

“Some cycling facilities have improved, some are still inadequate,” he said.

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John said he felt it was important to continue the ride’s calls for slower speeds and switching from cars to zero carbon transport.

“I’m not a naturist,” he said, “but I like it that people are comfortable with their bodies. And we shouldn’t be body shaming somebody.”

Barry Fairbrother, who travelled from near Skipton to attend the naked bike ride, added: “The problem with society is that we are told to fear nudity before we are taught to understand it.”