Lima, March 15 (IANS/EFE) Dozens of people wearing bathing suits, or nothing at all, rode bicycles through the streets of Lima to promote the use of non-motorised transportation as an alternative to the automobile as well as to defend the environment in Peru.

'People's attention must be attracted to make them aware about the importance of using sustainable means, like the bicycle,' activist Octavio Zegarra said.

Zegarra is the president of Cicloaxion, the organiser of the Nudist Cycling event, held Saturday in Peru for the fifth consecutive year.

Peru needs to adopt the 'good use' of the automobile, a means of transportation that 'brings dangers on the street, traffic congestion, health problems and pollution', Zegarra told Radio Programas del Peru, or RPP.

Zegarra, a defender of the 'bicycle culture', also made note of the death of a cyclist Friday.

Lima, with more than eight million residents, has few bike paths, most of them following short and isolated routes.