Bike to the Beach is well on its way after this past weekend’s Launch Party! We hosted a Happy Hour at Tommy Joe's Bar and Restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland to kick off our’08 efforts. The party offered an opportunity for B2B to educate people about the organization and it Charity ride, as well as B2B’s beneficiary, Autism Speaks the world’s largest advocacy organization dealing with Autism. The party also served as the first opportunity to register for the August 1st's ride.

The kick-off event was a great success. Outside of a great marketing effort which included a shout-out on The Junkies on WJFK 106.7 (a very popular morning, sports talk show), B2B welcomed almost 250 guests, raised almost $4500, and registered over a fifteen riders for the 2008 ride!  In addition, we had a number of event-goes express interest in the joining the 120-mile charity ride, as well as others who wanted to be involved in the volunteer effort to raise money for Autism Speaks. Each guest received a a Bike to the Beach T-shirt with their paid admittance to the event, and the blue and yellow shirts, sporting the B2B logo on the front and the Autism Speaks puzzle piece logo on the back, were indeed ubiquitous at the event – a sign of people’s enthusiasm for the ride and the cause.