Skirts on Bikes Ride Planned to Celebrate 'Freedom and Fashion'

Earlier in the week we told you about Jasmijn Rijcken, the Dutch tourist in town for the New Amsterdam Bike Show who was stopped by a New York City police officer and told that her skirt, which she was wearing while cycling in Soho, was dangerous and distracting. Now one of her friends, Joanna Virello, a long-time urban cyclist who recently organized the New Amsterdam Bike Show, has planned a skirted ride "in support of New Yorkers and cyclists across the globe who love to ride in style in a skirt or a dress."

Virello writes,

We at the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show are joining forces with the folks at Hudson Urban Bicycles to invite cyclists to take to their bikes for a ride through the bike lanes of Greenwich Village, Soho and Tribeca. The New Amsterdam Bicycle Show supports New Yorkers who choose to make riding a bicycle a viable lifestyle option. Ride with us. Jasmijn Rijcken will be here from Amsterdam to take part in this pivotal yet fashionable freedom ride!

The ride, which Virello is calling the "Official New York City 'Skirts On Bikes!' Ride," will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, at HUB (Hudson Urban Bicycles), located at 139 Charles Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets.

Bike Route: From Hudson Urban Bicycles, east on West 10th street, right onto 4th Ave, continue onto Lafayette Street through Soho. Take a right onto Reade Street in Tribeca then a left onto Broadway, then right onto Chambers Street. Take Chambers Street to the West Side Highway Greenway and take a right (north) and take the greenway back to West 10th Street. Take a left onto Greenwhich Street and another left onto Charles Street to HUB where refreshments will be waiting for participants.

Here's the event's Facebook page. If you don't want to wait for June 30, or just want to get your practice in, there's another short-skirted biking protest tonight!

As for the discussions that Rijcken might have made up her story, Streetsblog tackles that here.