Caroline's Naked Ride

"Wow! That was really freaky," she said to the nearer one of them, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"Oh, that was pretty typical," she replied. "So this must be your first ride, then?" Caroline and her friends all nodded.

"Well, take it from a couple of old hands -- that was the worst of it. It's all fun from here. I'm Beth, by the way, and this is my friend Mary."

"So you've done this before?" chimed in Prudence. "I don't know how you -- or any of these women -- could get used to all those men staring at them."

"Yeah, men are pigs. No man is going to pass up the opportunity to see a pussy, but only the perverts stare. But not even the worst pervert can stare at four hundred cunts at once." Caroline thought to herself that surely there weren't quite four hundred ... pussies there (she could accept Becky's term, but she really didn't like Beth's) as men outnumbered women somewhat. Does that mean there were more than four hundred ... cocks? Eight hundred balls? She smiled at the thought.

Her pleasant surprise at finding and befriending two other underwear-clad riders soon vanished, however, as Beth and then Mary both got off their bikes, leaning them on the ground, and began undressing. Beth casually pulled her knickers down first and then undid her bra, while Mary did it the other way round. Either way, both were quickly completely naked, and Caroline noticed that neither wore even shoes or helmet.

"Oh, I thought we'd found a couple more members of our underwear brigade," she said.

"Oh, no," said Mary this time. "We just wear them for the start. That's where you get the most creeps sticking cameras into your crotch. We learned that the hard way. As soon as the coast is clear, though, we chuck them off."

"But aren't you uncomfortable letting everyone see you stark naked?" asked Becky.

Beth and Mary looked at each other before Beth replied, "Why should we be? What's the big surprise? Everyone's got sex organs. Besides, how much can anyone see of a naked body whizzing by on a bicycle?" The irony was that as she said this, Beth was not whizzing anywhere but standing next to her bicycle, as was Mary, and anyone around could see every bit of their naked bodies, including the fact that they both had similar nipple rings and clitoral studs. (Ouch, thought Caroline, and Yuck, thought Prudence.) Mary's vulva was completely shaved, but her outer lips met in a tidy slit concealing everything else from view except for the stud peeking out. Beth's hood and labia minora, however, protruded even more than the sun-painted woman's and were not obscured by even a short growth of dark stubble like Mary's.

"I just can't believe all you ... I mean, all these people can just get naked in public like this," said Prudence. "I mean, it's just crazy."

"Sorry about our friend," interjected Caroline. "She doesn't mean you're crazy. It's just that all this still seems pretty bizarre to us."

"Oh, that's OK," said Mary. "The ride wouldn't work very well as a mass protest to raise awareness of cycling and environmental issues if there weren't lots of people happy to get naked in public and a lot more people who find it bizarre. Anyway, don't worry; you're not exactly the only ones riding dressed. And thanks for supporting us even if you're in the second group."

Caroline was no longer so sure she was entirely in the second group, but she wondered what her friends were thinking. Prudence was just shaking her head slowly in disbelief, but Caroline couldn't read Becky's thoughts.

Just then, the ride started to move off again, and as all five of them set off together, Mary, who was nearest the front, turned, leant forward over her handlebars and swung her right leg back and up over her bicycle seat (which Caroline thought was set a bit too high for her). As she did so, Caroline, Becky and Prudence were treated to a view straight up between her legs at her hairless pussy. At her leg's farthest reach, her outer labia suddenly parted to reveal her delicate, pink inner lips and the darkest pink of the mouth of her vagina. Prudence spluttered and nearly collided with Becky. You certainly never see anything like that in the showers at the gym or school, she thought. Caroline was surprised as well, but kept her composure as she watched in wonder. Beth had taken a moment to push off, and as Caroline glanced back to make sure Beth was with them, she saw Beth mounting her lady's bike by lifting her right leg forward over the pedals, showing the full extent of her prominent labia from top to bottom. Caroline had never realised just what a naked woman on a bicycle might reveal.

For the most part, though, Beth was right that there was a limit to what you could see of a naked person on a bicycle. It wasn't just the whizzing past -- quite often, they weren't whizzing at all but moving slowly in a thick crowd -- it was also that, depending on how her seat was positioned and how big it was, a woman cyclist planted on her seat might not show anything more than her pubic hair (or the place where it would have been). Caroline noticed that a woman sitting upright with no or sparse public hair might, however, show most of her labia while cycling, but as her legs were usually moving up and down as she pedalled, an onlooker could get a fleeting glance at best. Of course, if a woman stopped and set one foot down, or slipped forward off her seat and planted both feet, or rose up while pedalling uphill, it was a different story. It also made a difference what their pubic hair or vulvas were like. As Caroline had noticed, far more women than she had supposed had protruding inner lips like hers, but many such women were also shaved. Caroline realised that even if she were not wearing knickers, she would be exposing a bit more of her most intimate anatomy than some women, but she still would probably not be among the most exposed women there.

Caroline hadn't thought much before about different types and styles of pubic hair and what they exposed or not, but she began to take note. She saw two women who were stopped, feet planted astride their bikes. Both had full pubic hair, only trimmed at the edges, but while one seemed to be completely and opaquely covered, revealing scarcely more skin than some bikinis, the other's large labia were plainly visible though the hair. Neither showed any signs of caring. With other women, despite apparently full bushes, the outlines of their vulvas and their clefts were clearly discernible even if not much skin was.

Although she was in underwear, Caroline began wondering how much of it she was showing in different positions and from different angles. As a woman, she was accustomed to avoiding flashes of her knickers when wearing a skirt and thought she was very aware of what she was or wasn't showing. Now that she was only wearing knickers down below, of course, that didn't matter, but she began thinking about exactly what she would be showing if she weren't covered by the flimsy lace. Would my entire vulva be pressed down into my seat and out of view, as with some of the naked women here? Or would the top of my labia and hood be visible from the front? If so, how much would my pubic hair obscure? If I rose out of my seat, leaning forward to cycle uphill, would someone directly behind me have a clear view of the bottom of my labia? Would the opening of my vagina be visible?

As Caroline continued to study the women cyclists, trying to learn useful lessons for herself, she also continued to notice the men. Unlike with many of the women, a bicycle seat did nothing to hide a man's genitals ... cock and balls. Also unlike the women, almost all of the men were completely naked, so Caroline was surrounded by penises ... cocks, flopping back and forth as thighs rose and fell pumping at the pedals, or hung free as when the ride stopped briefly. When this happened, Caroline noticed that some of the naked women stayed astride their bikes, perhaps even rolling their hips forward so that their vulvas were pressed into their seats out of view. The men didn't have this option, and as their seats were often higher, they had to slip forward and plant their feet on the ground astride their bikes. Caroline liked how sometimes their balls rested across their crossbars while their cocks flopped to one side or the other.

This was by no means the only thing Caroline thought about. She was also enjoying the ride with her friends, chatting with other riders. There was a constantly changing set of fellow riders around the girls progressing at different paces, so that they might be riding and chatting with some for maybe a few hundred metres before someone dropped back or moved on to be replaced with someone new. She noticed how friendly the other riders were and how unconcerned they were with whether anyone was dressed or not, how receptive and supportive the cheering bystanders were (mostly clothed, though the girls did see one man standing by the road pull his shorts and briefs down and off and wave them over his head like pom-poms, cheering), and she simply enjoyed the beautiful weather and gentle sea breeze. But she still found time to notice all the cocks -- big and small, knobbly and smooth, ugly and beautiful.

While cycling, of course, the girls had to pay attention to the road. There were several long rest stops, however, when everyone stopped cycling, piled their bikes in a big heap or many little ones and relaxed. At the first one, by the seaside, the girls weren't sure what to do and whether to stay with their bikes, but when they saw others wandering off, they reckoned it was safe to do the same. Naked men and women, or sometimes mixed groups of naked and clothed, would meet up with others, chat or even hug and move on.

The girls were glad to see public toilets, and they joined the queue for the women's. A number of the other women in the queue were standing completely naked (and others topless) seemingly without a care in the world as clothed beachgoers strolled by. The men's queue opposite was almost all naked. Across the path, other naked or semi-naked men and women queued for ice cream from a kiosk. The girls saw a clothed family strolling up, a mum, dad, boy about 10 and girl about 8 and a toddler in a pushchair, and Caroline wondered with some apprehension what their reaction would be.

As the family approached, though, they stopped and the mother leant over to the boy and girl and pointed to the nudes. They all had a little laugh, and the children looked a bit longer than their parents, but then they just continued on their way towards the nudes and through them on the path. Then they stopped as the father joined the ice cream queue behind a young naked woman and a topless one, with an elderly naked man joining in behind him, while his young family stood nearby and watched. By the time the father returned with ice creams for all, the children's attention had entirely moved on from the naked people.

When the girls made their way back to find their bikes, they passed a group who were dancing to music from a nearby boom-box. Every one of them was completed naked, and most of them seemed no older than the girls' age. There were more women than men, and while none of them did anything that would remotely be considered lewd or suggestive, some of them playfully shook their breasts or buttocks briefly, to the amusement of the small crowd circled round them. Above all, they seemed sublimely unselfconscious and unperturbed by the many onlookers, many of whom were snapping away with their phones or more serious-looking cameras. As the girls stopped briefly to watch, Prudence was predictably baffled and incredulous. Becky, who was usually the most adventurous (up to a point) actually thought it looked fun and wanted to join in (keeping her bra and knickers on, of course), but was deterred by the cameras.

Caroline was mesmerised. She desperately wanted to join in, even despite the cameras, but she was acutely aware that all the girls dancing were naked and she was in bra and knickers. She would stand out like a sore thumb, but worse, she would feel like a fraud. She desperately wished she could strip off and join them, even fingering the straps of her bra, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. What would my friends think? What would Mike think if he ever saw one of those pictures online? What would I think of myself? Would I feel like a brazen hussy if I did it? (None of the girls dancing seemed to feel that way.) Or will I feel like a coward if I don't?

Unfortunately, she never got to make that choice, as the ride began to move off just then, and the dancing stopped as everyone scrambled back to untangle their bikes. Caroline was stuck feeling like a coward.

At the next stop, in a city park, she thought she might get another chance, but while some splashed in a fountain, the girls did not see more dancing. They did enjoy mingling with the crowd again, this time queuing themselves for ice cream from a café in the park. They were bracketed front and back in the queue by naked men -- one their age, one ten or fifteen years older -- each with a really cute cock and balls, Caroline thought. Slyly, she slipped on her sunglasses and chatted with both of them in turn, though not very coherently, and they both thought she didn't seem to be following the thread of their conversations. When the queuing girls made it to the doors of the café, they might have thought it strange to see naked people standing at a counter ordering takeaway coffee or ice cream from a clothed girl who looked still to be of school age while clothed customers ate at nearby tables, but by now none of this seemed strange any more to Caroline. Even Prudence, who still thought it was all weird, had long since stopped reacting with shock. Becky was positively enjoying herself, safe in the confines of her sexy red bra and knickers. Caroline, whose outfit was even sexier, though, found herself itching to peel it off.

As the ride moved off on its final leg, Caroline was in anguish. She was really feeling like a coward now, but she was still afraid, not least of what her friends would think. We have all been surrounded by naked bodies for hours now, but would they still be shocked if I stripped? she wondered, but she was embarrassed even to ask them. As the ride began to go up its steepest hill yet (lots of bottoms lifted off seats, as they all noticed), Prudence asked a rider next to her, "Do you know how much longer we have to ride?"

"Only about another mile," the rider replied, hoping to reassure, but when she heard this, Caroline really began to panic. She realised the ride was almost over and time was running out. She had to do something to see what it felt like, though she was still wary of her friends' reactions. With a sigh but a pounding heart, she reached behind her back with one hand and began to wrestle with the clasp of her bra strap. It was hard to cycle uphill with one hand while undoing a bra, so it took a few moments, but suddenly the clasp came undone. As her bra sprung loose and slipped forward onto her arms, Caroline felt sunshine and a fresh breeze wash across her bare breasts for the first time. Overcome with a warm glow, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" shouted Prudence when she saw. She no longer reacted to the hundreds of other bare breasts around her, but her mind was still very much thinking in 'them' and 'us' terms, and Caroline had just become one of 'them.'

"All right, you go, girl!" exclaimed Becky, surprised but actually delighted at Caroline's boldness.

"So why don't you join me, then?" Caroline asked Becky, hoping for some moral support and solidarity in her giant, brave step. "You've always bragged that you've been topless on the beach in France and Spain."

"Oh no, that was different. This is so public, and I'm not a ... I mean, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But you go for it. Shake those puppies!"

Caroline wasn't about to shake her puppies for anything in the world, but she appreciated Becky's encouragement. What did she start to say? 'I'm not like THAT'? 'I'm not one of THEM'? 'I'm not an EXHIBITIONIST or a HUSSY'? What does Becky really think?

Caroline did not have long to dwell on this, as she realised her bra was still hanging from her arms. She lifted first one hand off the handlebars, then the other, to slip her bra off, grasping it in one hand. She thought it would be an easy matter to reach back and down and slip it into the outer pocket of her pannier without stopping, but as she did so her bike suddenly lurched to a stop, almost causing a collision with the rider behind. Caroline called to her friends to stop for a minute as she lifted her immobilised bike onto the pavement. She crouched beside it and saw with dismay that her bra had got wrapped around the rear axle. The good news was that it wasn't so entangled with the gears and chain that it couldn't be extracted by simply reversing the wheel's direction. The bad news is that the lacy bra was badly torn -- one cup was practically shredded, and there were greasy black stains all over it.

"Well, that's a write off," she said to Becky and Prudence, who were now standing next to her, their mouths gaping in shock and disbelief. Caroline looked around and spotted a rubbish bin about ten metres ahead on the pavement. She was unaware of her friends' amazement as she left her bike, walked to the bin and dropped the ruined garment in, not really conscious of the fact that she was now walking topless on a busy city street. She was jolted into this reality when the diners at an open-fronted café she had walked past and was about to pass again on the way back suddenly burst into applause. Startled, Caroline turned to face them, only then fully realising for the first time that she was showing her bare breasts to strangers. Flustered, she blushed, and not knowing what else to do, took a little bow. As she straightened up, she held her arms up by her side, palms forward and shook her hands, as she might have done with a 'Ta-da!,' though in fact she was too flustered to speak.

She was still blushing as she re-joined her friends, asking, "What do you think that was all about?"

"Maybe they thought it was a feminist gesture," ventured Becky. "Or maybe they just appreciated the view! Your tits are definitely in the top ten on show today."

Caroline laughed at this and relaxed a bit. "You mean top ten tits, or top ten pairs?"

"Oh, tits, of course. You're definitely in the top five pairs." The girls laughed, even Prudence, and re-joined the ride continuing up the hill.

Cycling topless felt very different to Caroline. All along the roadside, spectators stood or sat in other open cafés watching and cheering as the unclad and partially clad cyclists rolled slowly by, and Caroline now felt more than ever that she was one of them. She sat as upright as she could while struggling slightly uphill and pushed her chest out, conscious that she was baring her breasts to dozens, maybe hundreds, of people. She thought less about what parts of the other cyclists she could see and for the first time focussed on what everyone could see of her. She wondered what it would be like to be completely naked, but it was not practical to stop and remove her knickers, nor would she yet have had the courage to do so -- but she liked imagining it. Many of the spectators were waving at the riders, and Caroline began waving back and smiling.

At the top of the hill, the ride turned and proceeded downhill, picking up speed as they rolled past wave after wave of spectators. They turned briefly along the promenade that ran along the cliffs overlooking the sea before making a sharp turn and rolling down a steep road leading to the seafront below, and now Caroline really felt the apparent wind across her bare breasts. More spectators and photographers watched as the cyclists made another sharp turn to the left at the bottom of the hill. Caroline waved again as she was rounding the turn, when she noticed several large camera lenses pointed directly at her. She flushed slightly at the realisation that they were focussed on her and her naked breasts, but she made no effort to hide them and continued on her way.