On the Road Again

With Los Angeles'based Pallotta TeamWorks folding and ending a number of its AIDS and vaccine bicycling fund-raisers around the country, several Southern organizations have launched their own cycling events, including groups in Washington, D.C., and in Florida. Tour de Friends, a D.C. nonprofit that formed in September, has announced the creation of a bicycling fund-raiser to be held June 19'22. The event's 330-mile route will travel from Raleigh, N.C., to Washington. Funds raised will support Washington's Food and Friends, the Richmond, Va.'based Fan Free Clinic, and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.'based Alliance of AIDS Services'Carolinas. 'As an independent and volunteer-driven nonprofit, we know that Tour de Friends can do more with less'and we will focus our entire mission on HIV. No more and never less,' says executive director Mickie Ballotta. For more information, call (202) 742-7433 or go to www.tourdefriends.com. In late 2002, Florida AIDS Action, the Wansiki Foundation in Broward County, Orlando's HUG-Me program, and the Sarasota Comprehensive Care Clinic announced the first 'Bike It and BEAR (Because Education Achieves Results) It' fund-raiser. The event is scheduled for November 7'9 and will cover 203 miles from Miami to Key West. Glen Weinzimer, director of rider relations, says event organizers hope to attract 2,003 riders and raise more than $2 million for Florida AIDS organizations and health services. For more information call (866) 696-7701 or go to www.bikeitandbearit.com.