The dog days of summer are coming to a close, but it's not yet time to hang up your helmet. Tour de Lab, new this year, takes riders on a tour of all three Lucky Lab brew pubs. You'll get dogged up along the way with dog ears, dog tails and a dog nose earned at fire hydrants along the way. Each rest stop has snacks and food to keep you fueled up for the ride. This bow wow ride is a benefit for Dove Lewis, a non-profit emergency animal hospital.

There are two routes on the ride, and there is no denying there will be some climbing with the first rest stops nestled in the hills of Multnomah Village. The 18 mile Puppy Dog route incorporates a little climbing and lot of great flat riding. If you choose the 30 mile Big Dog route, the challenge is in the climbing, not the distance. This gorgeous, hilly route takes riders winding through the steep Riverview Cemetery. After the first rest stop, the Big Dog course will follow tiny hidden roads up to the majestic Council Crest then descend along super fast and steep roads into Notrhwest Portland. This is a fun ride, not a race, so you may switch routes at any of the rest stops or at the start line.

The finish line features a gigantic hot dog (veggie too!) making bar with relish, cheese, celery salt, onions, chili, pickles and all the best fixins. Riders who are all dogged up in their dog gear will earn a commemorative pint glass of beer or soda. ORbike members will earn an additional free beer or soda at the finish line. If you're not yet an ORbike member, sign up today to save on the ride and get that extra drink!

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The Bike Commute Challenge is on! For those of you who are the lone bike commuters at work, this is a great opportunity to rally your coworkers to join you in riding to the office. The Bike Commute Challenge, a program of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, is a friendly competition - workplace against workplace - to see which business can get the most people biking to work in September. Any business, non-profit organization or public agency in Oregon and SW Washington is eligible to participate, and individual cyclists may participate on their own. Businesses can be of any size, and since this is a friendly, free competition, any employee can play.

September is just getting started and there is still time to get your workplace signed up. You may register your office team, or speak with your transportation coordinator if you have one. There are plenty of perks for employees and employers for getting involved. Anyone who bikes seven times in the month of September is eligible for special Challenge bike shop discounts, and the Bike Commute Challenge is a fun excuse to organize activities with your coworkers, at work or away from the office.

Encouraging bike commuting can help a company comply with the Department of Environmental Quality ECO Rule and save money through the Business Energy Tax Credit. The BTA website has a wealth of additional information on how businesses can benefit from encouraging their employees to bike to work. And don't worry, bike shops are in their own category (as are other businesses) so if you're worried about being blown out of the water by workplaces full of obvious bike commuters, you still have a good shot at winning. Rise to the challenge: start your cubicle chant, allocate extra space for bike parking, pull out the bike maps and get ready for the Bike Commute Challenge!

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At 75 riders strong, Portland Velo has one of the largest racing teams in the state of Oregon. In its 2007 inaugural season the team delivered 57 podium placings, 20 victories and four state titles. So it's only fitting that after an impressive year they're hosting the first weekend cyclocross race of the season.

The race takes place on Bald Peak with stunning views unlike any other cross venue. The course will be fast and technical, a mix of narrow trails and wide open spaces for exciting racing and viewing. The organizers are promising serious elevation and a surprise around every corner. Madison's Bar and Grill, who hosted the Portland Century gourmet dinner, will cater a barbeque and beer garden at the race. Sunset Cycles (the event's host), Keen Footwear, SKINS and other sports and cycling vendors will be on site.

Cyclocross culture grows every year by leaps and bounds, hurdling barricades and splashing through puddles. Grab your cow bells (for ringing) and your boots (for tromping through the mud), it's going to be a long, muddy and exciting cyclocross season. Ring the season off to a bold start and race in or cheer at the first ever Pain on the Peak.

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Cyclocross races are happening all over the state! If you're in the Bend area, you've got Thrilla Cross (starts Thursday), in Hood River there is the Double Cross on the 20th and 21st, Eugene is hosting a short cross series on the 16th and 23rd and the four-race Psycho Cross series, Southern Oregon has the Outlaw Cyclocross series, Salem has a series, Klamath Falls just unveiled their new KFCX series and the Cross Crusade series dominates the Portland racing scene.

If all those races have you wanting to do more than just sit on the soggy side lines ringing your cow bell or screaming till you're hoarse, maybe this is your season to start racing. You don't need to be part of a team to race, though there are a wide variety of teams out there and the camaraderie can help keep you going on the challenging days. There is also a Wednesday night series of cyclocross clinics at Alpenrose, starting this Wednesday. At the clinics, you'll learn to smoothly mount and dismount, how to make decisions on when to carry your bike, tricks and tips for slogging through the mud and, most importantly, you'll get a taste of the cyclocross kool-aid. Plenty of Oregon cyclists have drunk the nectar and, they'll tell you, there's no turning back.

What used to be a boring, dreary fall season has quickly become an incredibly fun time of year in the racing community. The chat boards on the Cross Crusade website are starting to light up (with everything from tips and race reports to smack talk and good-natured jeering). Check out the OBRA calendar for additional races, locations and details and stay tuned to ORbike for race reports and racer profiles.

( Clinic schedule ) ( OBRA race schedule )