Every year it seems like Bike Month comes and goes and Streetsblog and other publications can barely scratch the surface of what’s happened around Los Angeles City and County.  Bike month events aren’t just about partying, free water bottles and photo-ops for politicians, they’re also a chance for cyclists to speak out in a loud, unified voice to demand better bike facilities and safer streets.

This year, Streetsblog won’t be able to get to every, or even most, Bike Week/Month events, but in an effort to promote and memorialize all of this month’s happenings, we’ve created the Bike Month 2011 Mega Page to list all the events we can find.  So far we have events for the City of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, and Glendale with single event listings for Beverly Hills, Compton, Malibu and Santa Monica.

To break up what would be a gigantic wall of text if the Mega Page were just a list of events, I’ve added some of my favorite bike pictures from my three and a half years covering the transportation scene in Los Angeles.  Most of them aren’t even from CicLAvia.

Bike week has always been a special week for me.  In 2008 and 2009, I rode the “Bike Not to Work Day” ride sponsored by Stephen and Enci Box, Alex Thompson and Mark Peterson.  The ride in 2008 was my first “group ride” since arriving in L.A.  In 2009, I was invited by CICLE to lead a discussion after a viewing of “Contested Streets.”  Last year, Carter Rubin did the bulk of Streetsblog’s coverage, but Sammy and I still got out for a ride on the big day.  This year, we’ll be hosting our own event and working with CICLE on another.

If you know of an event not on the page, and I’m sure I’m missing plenty, please let me know at damien@streetsblog.org.  As we add more events, we’ll announce the new addition on the next “Today’s Headlines.”  Please give me at least 24 hours notice to get an event live on the website.