A recent event at Chrome’s downtown San Francisco store packed the house with more than 200 people who gathered for movie watching, live music and some good-ol’-fashioned beer drinking.

“The event was a huge success!” said store manager Paul Wilson. “Everyone was super stoked about the fact the money being raised went to a non-profit and were super glad to put down plenty of dollar bills!”

This lucky raffle winner walked away with a BTR Team jersey from Giordana

Between beer sales and raffling off a BTR jersey, custom-edition HoldFast toe straps and a Chrome backpack, the even raised $800 for Bicycles to Rwanda.

If you’re interested in the super-sweet Giordana BTR Team Kit, it’s on display and for sale at the Chrome store in San Francisco. Thanks again to Chrome for helping aid the cause.

BTR kits are now available at the Chrome store in SF

Here’s what she had to say: “During a recent trip to Rwanda, there were many things that left me awe struck. One of the main sources of my enchantment were the bikes. From what I witnessed, bikes are a major source of transport for essential items like water, harvests, and people; and like at home, they are often regarded as prided possessions. Unlike at home, the bikes are made of steel and retrofitted with rebar accessories! I cut this short from some leftover footage I took while on assignment for another project. Enjoy!”

Une Minute de Vélos – Rwanda from Darcy Turenne on Vimeo.

[Music: "Family Tree" by TV on the Radio]

Just head over to the corner of 62nd and Madison this afternoon and look out for La Colombe’s beautiful baby-blue H-Van. Check out the BTR bike, grab a complimentary cold-filtered “Pure Black” iced coffee, and snag a three-day pass to Equinox all at the same time!

The other side of this card holds a code for a free trial membership at Equinox, the best health club in New York City!

And be sure to watch out for the new Pure Black iced coffee from La Columbe, due to be released through the roaster’s cafes in Philly, NYC and Chicago this month. Try some for free today! Just keep an eye on La Colombe’s Twitter feed for the next location of the truck:

View more videos at: http://www.thefeast.com.

Those who have already signed up for the team can contact team director Andy Schmid to pick up their kits. For anyone interested in joining the BTR team, contact Andy directly at andy@bikestorwanda.org.

And last, for anyone interested in supporting the cause but is either outside the Tri-State area or simply isn’t ready to make the full team commitment,  a we’ll have a limited number of team jerseys available for a donation of $90 apiece.

Last night, with entrants names, paper, and scissors in hand, we got down to the business of randomly selecting the winner the old fashioned way: by plucking a name from a hat, or in this case, from a helmet. Filling a Team Sky Edition KASK Vertigo helmet–the official helmet of the Bikes To Rwanda Cycling Team–with slips of paper bearing entrants names, we gave them a good mixing, then drew the winner.

Pulling out the winner.

From the helmet came a name, a winner’s name: Tom Billionis. Tom Billionsihailing from Springfield, Missouri, you sir are the lucky winner of a brand new Globe Haul! Congrats Tom, a new steed for helping those in need!

In spite of his best efforts to load the raffle in his favor by purchasing a brazillion tickets, Shawn from the Twin Cities came up short. We like his tenacity, and the fact that he has come close to financing a new bike for a farmer single-handedly, so we’re going to send him a set of very limited edition Hold Fast FRS to keep him locked in while riding the frozen tundra.

Bike To Rwanda Cycling Team Limited Edition Hold Fast FRS

Thanks for your support Shawn!

A debt of gratitude is owed to not only the guys at Pedalr without whom we wouldn’t have been able to run the raffle, but also the fellas at Bicycle Coffee Company who lobbied Globe Bikes on our behalf. Thanks are also definitely due to Globe Bikes. Without a bike to raffle, there would have been no raffle.

Thanks again everyone. Your support is essential to our effort to improve the lives and livelihoods of coffee farmers in Rwanda.

Brian
Executive Director
Bikes To Rwanda

We’re very excited that the online bike marketplace pedalr is giving us so much great support. During the month of May, they’re donating profits directly to BTR. And not only that, but there’s also a sweet Globe Haul 1 Step Thru bike up for raffle, only $5 a ticket.

If you don’t know about pedalr, it’s high time you did. The concept is simple: Buy. Sell. Bike. The virtual marketplace is for individuals, bike builders, manufacturers, and shops to sell their new and used bikes, gear, accessories, and really anything cycling related in a common marketplace.

So check out pedalr, buy a raffle ticket and support BTR! And if you find a bunch of stuff you can’t live without, feel good knowing that any purchase over $40 on pedalr in May automatically enters you in the raffle!

From Barista Magazine.

From Food & Wine Magazine

3/26/11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Red Hook, New York’sBikes To Rwanda, a non-profit organization that supplies custom cargo bikes to coffee farmers in Africa, is proud to announce that professional rider Neil Bezdek will be guest racing for the newly formed Bikes To Rwanda Cycling Team in the fourth annual Red Hook Criterium.

The event is happening this Saturday, March 26, in the industrial Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

The race marks a homecoming of sorts for Bezdek, who worked as New York City bicycle messenger before he started his career as a professional bike racer. Bezdek won the Red Hook Criterium in 2009, and although he didn’t compete last year he did race last fall in the international running of the Red Hook Criterium in Milan, Italy. Bezdek was heavily favored to win in Milan but was overtaken in a daring effort by Jon Ander Ortuondo’sa sour loss that Bezdek says stayed with him all winter.

I love the Red Hook Criterium because it seems to cut across so many different little segments of bicycling culture. You’ve got the roadies and the bike messengers and the cyclocross guys all coming out, says Bezdek, who started riding as a mountain biker in Colorado and says he has always put his love of bikes first, and bike racing second.

I just really believe in bicycles, he says. So when I get a chance to take bike racing, which sometimes seems like such a meaningless and selfish thing’sriding a bicycle around in circles’sand do something like help promote Bikes To Rwanda, it’s something I can really get on board with.

Bezdek comes to New York this weekend after an intensive two-week training camp with his regular race squad, Team Mountain Khakis, and although he’s heavily favored, he’s making no bold predictions. Being an excellent bike racer can only increase your odds of wining, he says. But this race, and this format’sit’s anyone’s game.

Indeed, Bezdek will face a field thick with talent. Jon Ander Ortuondo is flying in from Italy and last year’s winner Daniel Chabanov will be there to defend his title. The field also includes pro mountain bike racers Harlan Price and teammate Ruben Klein, a host of elite area road racers and an untold number of NYC bike messengers Some 85 racers will line up in Red Hook Saturday night at 11 PM in a bid to take home the coveted cobblestone trophy’sracing 20 furious laps around a dark and twisty one-mile urban course on brake-less, fixed gear bikes.

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About the Red Hook Criterium: Organized by Trimble Racing, the Red Hook Criterium is entering its fourth year as New York City’s premier urban track race. Every past winner of the event has gone on to a pro contract, and the race has grown in size and popularity every year’sthis year selling out in less than 24 hours. Last year Trimble Racing expanded the event to Italy, which it will repeat this year, along with a new stop in Berlin. For more information go to www.redhookcrit.com.

About Bikes to Rwanda: Started in 2006, Bikes To Rwanda is dedicated to supplying farmers on coffee cooperatives in post-genocide Rwanda with tailor-made cargo bikes. As a 501 ( C )( 3 ) non-profit organization, Bikes To Rwanda is funded exclusively through donations and the sale of coffee and merchandise’ssuch as the team kit that Neil Bezdek will be sporting this Saturday night. Find out more details, merchandise and team information, go to www.bikestorwanda.org.