Route, date and time of the 2024 Philly Naked Bike Ride

The Philly Naked Bike Ride will take place for the 15th time on Saturday. Cyclists in varying states of nakedness will set off on a 12-mile ride through the city.

The ride is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at the Glendinning Rock Garden in East Fairmount Park. Participants will travel along Benjamin Franklin Parkway and take a southbound path that includes sections of Walnut, Pine and Broad Streets before heading back north to Seventh Street via Passyunk Avenue. For the final leg, participants will head up 13th Street to Race Street, travel through the Fifth Street Tunnel and head back west on Spring Garden Street.

The nude cruise ends at Drexel Park at 3100 Powelton Avenue.

Traditionally, pre-ride festivities – including a body painting session – begin at 2 p.m. Public toilets and snacks will be available at Lloyd Hall, about 1.2 miles from Glendinning Rock Garden, organizers said.

The annual bike ride has been a Philadelphia tradition for over a decade, promoting body positivity, cycling and economic sustainability. This year’s ride comes amid a surge in activism in the city’s cycling community, sparked largely by the death of 30-year-old Barbara Friedes, who was killed by a drunk driver last month while riding her bike near Rittenhouse Square. The driver, Michael Vahey, 68, was charged with intoxicated manslaughter and related offenses.

With Friedes’ death in mind, this year’s event will also focus on safe bike infrastructure and serve as a protest against what organizers called the inaction of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration on concrete barriers to protect the city’s bike lanes. This week, bike safety activists said they were rebuffed by Parker’s office when they delivered a 6,000-signature petition earlier this month calling for concrete-protected bike lanes.

“Every life lost or maimed in a traffic accident matters to Mayor Parker. We will explore every possible solution and measure to make Philadelphia safer,” the executive director’s office said in a statement, as The Inquirer previously reported.

The Naked Bike Ride took place in Philadelphia in 2009. The six-kilometer route attracted around 400 participants. Normally, several thousand participants take part.

The start location and route of the ride usually change annually. Last year’s event and the 2022 edition started in Lemon Hill.

Organizers note online that clothing is not allowed at the event, but nudity is not required. A code of conduct available online points out that physical and sexual harassment are strictly prohibited.

“Ultimately, one of the goals of the Philly Naked Bike Ride is to desexualize nudity and encourage everyone to accept nudity as a normal, enjoyable way of life,” the code of conduct states. “Adhering to this policy will help achieve that goal and teach us all how to be better people in general.”

As always, participation is free and no registration is required, but the organizers accept online donations.