World Naked Bike Ride is back in Portland, this time with new team

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – It’s not a Portland summer unless you see hundreds of bike riders rolling through city streets without their clothes on, isn’t it?

After the Portland World Naked Bike Ride announced it would not have enough volunteers to host the annual ride in the buff, another team has taken up the job.

Now the World Naked Bike Ride Portland will bare all on Saturday, Sept. 21 starting at 3 p.m. at Colonel Summers Park.

According to the team’s website, the new organization “originated in 2024 to ensure this important ride continued and was led and organized by responsible and conscientious leaders who care about making a difference in the World.”

The event kicked off in the city in 2004, and is one of the world’s largest events — drawing in 10,000 participants in 2019. Despite the change of leadership, this year’s ride will remain a protest against the dependency on fossil fuels.

“This ride isn’t about the leaders, it’s about making a protest and drawing attention to Cyclists vulnerability, oil dependency and the need to put people and the environment over profits,” according to the website.

Organizers say this protest is an effort to “protect residents, The Columbia Gorge and hundreds of miles of fragile environments.” It also seeks “greater protection for the workers, union members, engineers and freight workers who would be the first impacted by an accident.”

It is not yet clear how large of a crowd this year’s World Naked Bike Ride will build.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the original Portland World Naked Bike Ride have told KOIN 6 News they plan to host their next ride in 2025 with an adequate amount of volunteers.