As California Recovers from COVID-19, Bike Month Rolls Back This May

Last year's Bike Month was subdued for the obvious reasons. And while this year's Bike Month is not a return to the normal calendar of bicycling related festivities, there are certainly more events, and better programming than what we saw last year when groups were just trying to figure out how to do bicycling events safely.

In this article, SBCAL is going to highlight a few events that are taking place around California over the next 28 days, but our list is in no way comprehensive. If you'd like to let us know about a Bike Month event in your part of the state, write about it in the comments section. Pictures encouraged!

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments is again hosting its May Is Bike Month Challenge. Simply put, an individual, team, or employer can sign up at the May Is Bike Month, keep track of their riding for the month, and be eligible for prizes. There is also a Sacramento Regional photo contest, the details of which can be found here.

San Diego has a similar challenge for "Bike Week" from May 16-22 as part of its Bike Month festivities.

Wednesday, May 5, is International Bike to School Day. While many kids are not back in the classroom yet and bike ridership to school is down in 2021, Walk and Bike to School has created a list of socially distanced ways to celebrate and educate specifically for 2021.

May 21 would normally be Bike to Work Day, and nobody celebrates that day better than in the Bay Area. Last year, Bike to Work Day (and the evening "Bike Away from Work Day" was replaced with "Bike to Wherever Day" throughout San Francisco, the East Bay and Silicon Valley. This year's "Bike to Wherever Day" is hoping to show the many people that have picked up (or picked back up) a bicycling habit during the Stay at Home orders that they can keep bicycling in their lives.

Instead of swag bags at stops through the Greater Bay Area, bicyclists can get a virtual bag or even sign-up for home delivery. Find out more from your local bike advocacy group as each of the nine Bay Area county bike coalitions will offer classes, activities, education and more to help cyclists pedal safely. Find out more at the unified Bay Area Bike to Wherever Day website.

One of those local participating groups is the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, which is holding a Virtual Bike Film Festival. Find out what films are playing and order tickets here.

Los Angeles Metro is offering discounts all month for its Metro Bike Share and Metro Bike Locker Program. The biggest discount, 50 percent off a year membership to Metro Bike Share, is one-day only on May 21.

If there's a bike event this month you'd like us to highlight, let us know in the comments or email damien@streetsblog.org.