On your bike in the nip!

Cork cyclists - outfitted in their finest birthday suits - are to take to the road again this year for the annual World Naked Bike Ride.

Drivers are being asked to take on board the message of the ride which is: ‘NOTICE US ON THE ROAD every day of the year, and not just the one day when we are naked’.

Most participants will be covered in bodypaint by local artist collective Bodypaint Cork.

The route will take the cyclists through the city centre, before being received on the steps of Cork City Hall by the Lord Mayor.

Additional volunteers are being requested to cope with the larger than usual number of cyclists who have registered. Those interested should email nakedbikecork@gmail.com. This will be the 16th iteration of the event in Cork city. A global protest, the World Naked Bike Ride began in 2001, after a series of road accidents in and near Zaragoza, Spain, caused the deaths of six young cyclists.

“That tragedy sparked a worldwide movement that has been supported by hundreds of thousands of cyclists who rode naked through their city streets to emphasise to drivers how vulnerable they are in a collision,” said one of the Cork organisers.

This year's cycle will take place on 18 July from 5pm-7pm in Cork city centre.