NAKED BIKE RIDE

The fourth-annual World Naked Bike Ride commenced Saturday in dozens of cities around the world - gracing downtown streets with decorative bikes, bright colors and more nudity than you could shake a bicycle chain at.

Several naked bike ride events typically take place each year during the summer months, however, the World Naked Bike Ride is by far the largest and best organized event.

It boasts organized bike rides in 70 cities located in 20 different countries.

In the United States, organizers in about 20 cities participated in the event - with attendance varying from a few dozen riders in some cities to hundreds of riders in other larger cities.

Highest event attendance in the U.S. seemed to be in Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, San Diego, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami and Houston.

Other countries that had fairly strong turnout included Argentina, Austalia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and The United Kingdom.

So what's the goal of all this nudity? The World Naked Bike Ride's main website describes it this way:

"We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclist and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil, and other forms of non-renewable energy."

Although the event does not require complete nudity - participants are encouraged to strip down as much as possible and decorate their bodies with colors that draw attention.

Participants are also encouraged to decorate their bikes, film videos and create promotional art of various kinds. Not that anyone shows up to these events to look at someone's drawings.