I went to the 2016 Halifax World Naked Bike Ride this year. I support the idea behind the WNBR and have participated in other cities. As noted in a previous posting within this blog, the WNBR is most definitely NOT a naturist event per se. The WNBR is really about bicycle safety, with nudity used as a graphic demonstration to car drivers of just how vulnerable bicyclists are out there on the road. That was how it started, but along the way it has become a stage for protest or consciousness-raising for a wide variety of issues including (but by no means limited to) petroleum-dependency and legalization of public nudity. It is a house of many mansions.
I set off for Halifax with mixed feelings about the ride in that city. Previously, I had been told a number of horror stories about it by people whose opinions I respect, and I had seen YouTube video of previous rides, video that was rather cringeworthy in places. Despite it being a house of many mansions it should certainly not be a stage for the exhibition of bad manners. LESSON: If you want respect you have to give respect.
The run-up to the 2016 Halifax WNBR was sketchy. One of the things that was wrong with the 2016 ride was the poor communication plan, compounded by the existence of two separate FaceBook pages with not-so-compatible information on each. The FB page “World Naked Bike Ride – Halifax” is a public group that has been around for a long time and is no secret. The 2016 Halifax organizers launched their own event page “Halifax World Naked Bike 2016, 9th Edition” then largely ignored the original public group. This was a fatal error as confusion resulted, leading to uncertainty, leading to non-attendance. The organizers should have monitored posts on both pages in order to correct any false impressions and provide timely info. LESSON: Pay attention to your primary means of communication.
Then there was the problem of the route; there were two versions of it. When v.1 was published it was far too long – people pointed this out and the organizers responded positively by issuing v.2 a day or two later, a route only half as long as the original. So far so good but people were still discussing v.1 on the WNBR-Hfx page and it was not being corrected, leading to the fatal error noted above. LESSON: If there are two active info sites, put your info on both sites, then monitor and make corrections if necessary.
Also, on the HfxWNBR 2016 page there was much dithering by the organizers about the weather. Folks, if you’re going to dither, dither in private, not on social media. If you dither on FB it confuses the issue and causes people to stay away. LESSON: Don’t dither in public. Think it out, make a decision and then stick to it.
In order to avoid parking problems in Halifax I biked in from Bedford and, having arrived quite early in the day, took the opportunity to scout out the route chosen for the ride. This wasn’t entirely without a selfish motive, the morning was a little cool and the exercise would help keep me warm. The route was quick enough, even with a couple of side trips, because traffic was minimal and I was lucky enough to catch nearly every green light.
When I had completed the route and arrived at the gathering place on Fern Lane (at 12:45) there was no sign, no one serving as a greeter and no one who seemed to know what was going on, or at least they weren’t telling much. The organizers were largely uncommunicative, almost non-responsive. But kudos to the guy with the music machine, he was cool. LESSON: An event like the WNBR requires a feeling of welcome, of inclusion and a little animation would have helped too.
I killed some time by wandering about Fern & May trying to keep warm enough and could not help but observe and reflect upon the organization of the event so far. That reflection was making me bite my tongue because it wasn’t really any of my business. Besides, things could still have turned out okay – only they didn’t. I’ve organized lots of things in the past and the hard truth is that it takes work, engagement, communication, enthusiasm and teamwork. Frankly, standing about looking taciturn, like a captain pacing the quarterdeck of his burning ship just doesn’t do the trick. It seemed clear to me that the 2016 Hfx WNBR was a shipwreck in progress. (Were those seagulls circling overhead, or vultures?)
At T minus 15 mins and counting there was no sign of either welcome or animation, except when the media showed up and one of the organizers began holding forth to one of the reporters. I had previously spoken to one of the media guys and he told me that the organizers had told him that their “minimum number” for riding was twenty – if they didn’t get twenty they would cancel.
At this point there were nine prospective riders and four media people, the total of which was already outnumbered by pudgy camera-wielding perverts gathering near the corner of Fern and May like so many crows on a wire, eager for the first glimpse of (Gasp!) naked flesh. I’m sorry to say that they would have been very disappointed by it as almost every rider there was an old guy. Most of them had the sort of pasty complexions that had never seen a ray of sunshine. Clearly few were naturists or they would have been tanned, at least somewhat. It made me wonder just exactly what demographic we were dealing with and none of my conclusions were particularly complimentary. No women riders had showed up by that time, although one had stopped by momentarily and said she would be back. As noted above, I have participated in other rides in other places and this one had no oxygen in it. It was all too tawdry for me. At T minus 9 mins I got on my bike and biked back to my motel in Bedford.
On the trip to Bedford I decided that perhaps I hadn’t given the event a completely fair evaluation so, on reaching my motel, I got in my car and drove back to town. That was when I realized they had cancelled. (I learned later they had cancelled at T plus 2 mins, ostensibly because of inclement weather.) Small wonder!
They rescheduled to the following day, Sunday July 3rd, but let us be crystal clear about the real reason for rescheduling – very few people showed up! The ride was cancelled due to lack of interest. It did go the following day, still with lack of support – apparently the smallest Hfx WNBR ever – when there was no bad weather to use as a codpiece to cover the failure. But really, cancelled for fictitious bad weather? C’mon guys, try to butch up a little! Don’t blame your own shortcomings on Mother Nature.
Yes, I suppose you could say I should have taken that same advice and stayed until the bitter end, but I didn’t help organize this clinker and I could pedal away with a clear conscience.
In my opinion the 2016 Hfx WNBR failed for several reasons:
(1) delayed decision-making that led to a late announcement. How hard is it to get together in the late winter or early spring and choose a date, make an announcement and proceed from that firm base;
(2) a poor choice of date. The “official” date for the WNBR is the second Saturday of June, delaying until early July is not a good idea. So too, holding it on a long weekend is not a good idea as it conflicts with too many other events and personal plans;
(3) poor communications and apparently no communications plan;
(4) bad route planning and the confusion resulting from it;
(5) very poor attitude at the start point;
(6) and, in very important measure, because of the hangover from the 2015 ride, a debacle in which the lead riders, in a stunning display of bad manners, invaded the Canada Games Team announcement on the Grande Parade. This is not the first time some bonehead in the Halifax ride took the lead and dragged the rest of the riders into places better avoided, something similar happened with a street hockey tournament in 2013. To reiterate a lesson noted above -- If you want respect you have to give respect.
Personally, I am neither here nor there with regard to the Halifax WNBR as it is presently organized. In theory and in practice I support the WNBR. But the Halifax ride? I won’t bother wasting time or money to go to the 2017 ride – if they have one – so long as it is being run by the same people with the same bad attitudes.
But, returning to the issue of bicycle safety for a moment, like car drivers everywhere else those in Halifax are a mixed bag. The majority seem to have no problem sharing the road – or at least they don’t want a bicyclist splattered all over their Lexus – but there is an important minority that certainly needs re-education and a tune-up of their attitude. This was made abundantly clear to me on my trips back and forth from Bedford when I became aware of just how nasty some Halifax drivers could be – cutting cyclists off, crowding them off the pavement, invading the bike lane (or parking in it) or sneaking up close before blasting cyclists with car horns. These people definitely have a head-space problem. If the WNBR can help raise consciousness regarding this issue then rock on!
