Tonight is the big Last Thursday celebration on Alberta Street in Northeast Portland. If you head out there, here are two special happenings you don't want to miss.

First, those kooky clowns at the famous Clownhouse on NE 25th and Alberta Streets are holding their first ever talent show. Dubbed "Shmanarchist Idol," [...]

[Freightliner employees kick off the Bike Commute Challenge.]

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) kicks off their annual Bike Commute Challenge tomorrow and organizers say an estimated 700 companies (view list) from Oregon and Washington will participate.
The event promotes bike commuting by encouraging companies to compete against each other to see who can get more employees riding [...]

[Update: According to a rep from Friends of Forest Park—who were instrumental in making this trail happen—some minor work remains to complete this trail.]
Last Saturday was the second of two trail work parties to complete a new mountain bike trail in Forest Park. The trail, which extends off an existing firelane, is the [...]

[Jeff Bernards, founder of Get Lit]

For the last three years, Jeff Bernards and his Get Lit program have distributed over 1500 free bike lights and 500 helmets to Portland cyclists.
His program—which was initially funded by an ODOT grant—has become such a success that it has garnered national media attention, earned him an Alice [...]

[Editor's note: I got this all wrong! This event is not being organized by messengers and while the format is modeled after messenger races, most of the participants are not messengers and the event is open to all ladies and transgendered riders. According to one of the organizers, "This is a fun race [...]

Have you noticed these cool little bike stencils popping up on popular bikeways throughout the city? I've seen them around the Hawthorne Bridge, on the Springwater Corridor Trail, and several other places.
I have no idea what they're all about but I'm curious. BikePortland.org reader Matt Picio is curious too so he snapped [...]

I just noticed this post in the Forums. It's about a pre-meditated bike crash scam on the waterfront.
"A co-worker of mine got mugged while bicycling home!! He was riding along the waterfront and was boxed in by another rider and forced into an accident. They crashed pretty hard and he tore up [...]

The Transportation Options division within PDOT has put out a call to marketing and focus group experts to help create and evaluate effective messages that will resonate with the non-cycling public.
This effort is a key part of their nine-point strategy to reach Platinum status with the League of Amercian Bicyclists and increase bicycle use by [...]

[A Brompton builtfor two.]

Since neither of my girls can ride a bike on their own (yet), we're always looking for ways to carry them. So far Juli and I have used a trailer, baby seats, backpacks, my arms and even my shoulders (just for fun).
Last week I came across two new methods that were [...]

It's been just over a year since I posted, "Wanted: your close calls." Since then, 226 of you have reported the details of your harrowing experiences.
I read all of them and every once in a while one will catch my eye. Like this one,