In case you didn’t know, Bike Week LA is in full swing and will culminate with  Bike to Work and School day this Thursday and Friday.

If you haven’t gotten your old bike out of the garage in a while, or have been meaning to get one there is no better time then now.  After all bicyclists will experience a variety of perks including free Metro rides, refreshments, giveaways and more. Here is our quick checklist to get you two-wheeling out the door just in the nick of time.

Get Your Bike

To get started, do you have a bike?  What kind of condition is it in?  If you don’t have a bicycle, we always recommend buying used if possible.  Craigslist and Freecycle are good places to look and your neighborhood bicycle shop will usually carry some used gems.

Maintenance

If you have a bike, proper maintenance will keep it going longer.  Most local bike shops and giant sporting good stores offer tune ups but community bicycle co-ops such as Bikerowave and Bicycle Kitchen allow you to bring your bike in and learn how to work on it (affordably), all while supporting the co-op.

Safety

As more bicyclist take to the road safety is very important.  Classes from  C.I.C.L.E. or Smart Cycling 101 offer bicycle technique and safety classes for all levels.  Whether you’ve never been on a bike before, it’s been a few years or you ride regularly–there are a variety of skills you can pick up (plus connect with the local bicycling community).

Resources

Despite it’s reputation for being a car city, Los Angeles is becoming bike friendlier by the day. Here are some of our favorite tools to get you moving.

• 
  The city council has approved a pilot sharrows program that will start implementing bike/road sharing arrows on our roads this June.
• The Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition is a great community resource for bicyclists, promoting events like “Car Free Fridays” the last Friday of every month.
• Ciclavia is a local movement trying to create an area of car free streets on Sundays to encourage people to walk, bike, skateboard and connect with heir community.
• Streetsblog LA is one of our favorite resources for keeping you informed on bicycle issues (in addition to public transit and other traffic issues).  We recently did a write up on them here.
• Google Maps offers bicycling directions anywhere in Los Angeles.

We hope to see you two-wheeling on the road.  If you’ve got any bike ideas or resources we’ve missed, share them with us in the comments.