Bay to Breakers: When San Francisco Parties on the Streets!

Bay to Breakers is a footrace which takes place on the third Sunday of May each year in the city of San Francisco, California. The tradition has been going on for over a century and each year anywhere between 50,000 to 70,000 people participate in it. On this day at the break of dawn, participants start from one end of the city and run to the other side over a stretch of about 12km, passing through some of the most beautiful neighborhood of the city.

The day of Bay to Breakers is also a day when the streets of San Francisco come alive with bizarre fashion and style and all boundaries are broken (quite literally). There is much festivity in the air and even a curious onlooker is tempted to jump in and take part in race.

The next Bay to Breakers in San Francisco will take place on 15th May 2016.

I loved this bunch of two guys and a girl at Bay to Breakers

But how did the tradition of this footrace actually start?

To understand this, we need to go back in time to the beginning of the last century.

It was early morning and most of the residents of the city of San Francisco were asleep when an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.8 hit the city. Over the next few days fires ravaged the city and almost 80% of San Francisco was destroyed. The earthquake is also often called one of the worst natural disaster in the history of United States. Over 25,000 buildings were destroyed in the fires and over 3,000 people lost their lives.

As the city burnt and people lost their homes and source of livelihood, the spirits were down and future looked bleak to many. Even as plans for city's reconstruction were made, many efforts were also made to improve the morale of it's people. And this is how the now legendary footrace, Bay to Breakers, was started.

It had humble beginning with only a handful of participants for the first race. However, with time participation grew and so did it's reputation. During the war years, sometimes only 50 people participated, yet the footrace lived on.

A bunch of Elvis Presley!

My experiences at Bay to Breaker in SF

From the time I had come to the Bay area, I had heard about this one event and was quite curious to attend it, mainly because of the stories of eccentricities associated with it. The event takes place every third Sunday of May and stretches for 12km from near The Embarcadero (adjacent to San Francisco Bay) and finishes at the Great Highway. The racers (or breakers as they are more commonly known) crash into the Ocean Beach at the end of the race.

I used to live in Palo Alto at the time and had planned to travel to San Francisco by train, but at the last minute my friend Abhinav also agreed to come and we drove to the city in his car. You can always participate in the event by registering, however, most people do not participate officially and just join in the crowd. Thankfully, this is not at all unusual (about 60% people don't register ) and so we were not the odd ones out. Had I known in advance, I would have actually participated with a bib number!

Pretty girls! :)

And some girls more with attitude!

We parked our car and walked towards the road where the race had already started. There was quite a lot of rush and the moment we joined the crowd, we were immediately made a part of it. There were bodies all around, and the experience was not too different from India's Kumbh melas. The race is one of those days when people completely let go of all their inhibitions and the concept of personal space changes completely for this one day.

On a regular day in SF, it would be considered highly inappropriate to walk on streets with people walking very close to you, but on this day there are almost no inhibitions and everyone is happy to share their walking space with everyone else. There is a sense of festivity and the people are just happy to have many more people around them :)

Lots of Freedom of Expression!

As we walked further more shocks were awaiting us. I had heard about the nudity at the race, but I was unprepared for all the sights. Lots of naked men and some women of all shapes, sizes, ages were all around. Men greatly outnumbered the women when it came to skin show, and some of them also had their erect members on display. Many of these were eye candies for the girls and were grabbed by a bunch of screaming girls every few minutes, something none of them minded. There was a dancing Gandhi, many super heroes without lower clothing, women in leather garments which were strategically cut for maximum exposure and many more such interesting participants.

I was initially quite apprehensive about taking their pictures, but most wanted to be clicked and happily posed. Within a short while my embarrassment was over and I actively became a part of the crowd wholeheartedly. Everyone was as interested in enjoying the party as they were in getting clicked!

Well built naked men are seen throughput the race

Here is another naked man enjoying the sun

The streets are littered (btw can you locate me in the picture?)

The environment throughout the race was that of a day long party. The houses we crossed played loud music and offered free food and water to the participants. We were invited to join them in their gardens and dance on the music they played. There was everything to choose from - Bhangda, hip-hop, retro, ACDC, heavy metal and so on. It was also one day when no one cares about littering the streets and half the street was full of empty water bodies, food packets and much more.

The race ends right on the beach and it's only a few who actually run to the end, most just laugh and kiss and loiter across the finishing line. The race, however, ends by a dip in the cold water of the Ocean Beach for many participants. And that's where we also sat at the end of the day. The race is on the famous hilly roads of San Francisco and it actually gets quite hot by the time you reach the beach, however taking a dip in water is still a challenge as the water is quite cold even in May. Some youngsters prefer to make out rather than freeze themselves in the water.

At the finishing line! Yay!

The bunch of brides were super fun!

And finally relaxing/ making out on the beach

If you are in San Francisco or the Bay Area in May, this is an event not to be missed. It’s probably bizarre for a visitor from outside the country, but its extremely important to experience the event to get a sense of the city. Go for it!

And finally let me leave you with more images from the day! I have blocked the privates so as not to offend anyone, but if it does please let me know and I will see if I can remove it :)

Pretty girls posing for the camera

More naked men far outnumbering the women folk!

These girls are having way too much fun

And this is the underwear gang :)

Some men who cross dressed with much attitude!

Some smart super heroes!

A man in tight red underwear shaking his booty!

And finally a fun bunch!

Musical festivals in California

If running naked (pun intended) isn't your favourite thing to do on a weekend, here' something else you can do in California - attend musical festivals! Read this guide to learn more: The 8 best camping musical festival of California.

Here's another carnival which you must attend in San Francisco: Latin American Annual Carnival