IT WAS “keep your eyes on the road” time again yesterday, as around 700 people, including 120 women, went all-out for the annual Naked Bike Ride.

The smell of suncream hung heavy in the air over The Level in Brighton on Sunday lunchtime, as nude cyclists protected acres of exposed flesh from the heat of a beautiful June day.

Some sported skimpy shorts or nipple tassels, but most wore nothing but a cycling helmet and a smile.

A few had chosen to decorate themselves with body paint or slogans, including “Nude Not Rude”, Suns Out, Bums Out”, and “Burn Carbohydrates, not Hydrocarbons”.

Pebbles Maloney on the Doodlecat stand, whose paintbrush had spent the morning circumnavigating areolae and covering up cracks, said: “It’s a really fun day, I’m really enjoying myself.

“It’s very liberating, for me and for everyone, I think it’s a lovely event.”

This year’s event had a “Bike for Women” theme, with one or two participants dressed – or barely dressed – as suffragettes.

Hannah Lloyd, who went topless save for a purple sash bearing the legend Votes For Women, said: “I’m a suffragette who’s still working hard in 2018, to change perceptions with regards to women being objectified.”

Campaigner Jean Calder has criticised the theme, writing that suffragettes: “would never have done anything which could in any way have been interpreted as sexually aggressive or likely to scandalise, frighten or sexually embarrass anyone, especially children.”

Organiser Nick Sayers told The Argus: “Today is about protesting the vulnerability of cyclists on the roads, that’s the point of being naked.

“It’s about how our public spaces are designed for vehicles, not cyclists and pedestrians.”

The peloton of penises made its way from The Level to the pier.

Then it snaked west to Hove Lawns, and back on itself to the naturist beach in Kemptown, where a sauna – and an after-party at Volks – awaited.