Cycling organizers are meeting at the nation’s Capitol for a week of advocacy and education known as the National Bike Summit. Put on every year by the League of American Bicyclists, the Summit is likely the biggest political bike advocacy event of the year.

They’ve got some lofty goals too – the fight to increase cycling’s priority in our next transportation bill is going to be hard.

Their short and sweet description of this year’s summit:

Bicyclists led the Good Roads movement in the 1880s, successfully lobbying for paved roads to drag our nation out of the mud. In 2009, the stage is set for bicyclists to once again lead reform of our transportation system. A “smart” transportation movement is needed to solve the challenges of climate change, obesity, congestion, pollution, safety, and dependence on foreign oil. The 2009 National Bike Summit is focused on making a powerful case for expanding Federal support for bicycling – for active transportation and recreation. Join fellow advocates, industry leaders, and retailers as we make our voice for change heard: we have a new President, new Congress and new administration to address. The new Congress begins writing a new federal transportation funding bill and bicyclists must be at the table.

One of their keynote speakers is Jeff Mapes, author of Pedaling Revolution, which we reviewed recently.

What really happens at these things? Jonathan Maus from Bike Portland went last year a and has a terrific photo gallery (slideshow below) along with an archive page covering pretty much everything that went on – from an Oregon-centric point of view of course.