lots of tips but one is be sure to turn the "funds raised" thermometer on on your ALC homepage. People like the idea of seeing that their donation is helping you meet your goal.
House parties seem to be a good idea. Invite folks over, feed them well, get a speaker from ALC. Many riders meet their entire pledge goal at that one event. You could even do an entire team house party, more people, more food, more fun.
Don't forget to thank your sponsors: thank you cards-real ones, not those e-mail things, keep them updated along the way-if they don't ride it's interesting what you do to train and gives them an idea what a chalenge it is, some kind of report about the ride afterward is nice.
Always carry pledge forms with you, wear the t-shirt, the bracelet thing. Sounds corny but...you never know who has been touched by your event, this goes not just for ALC but any charity ride. People wll ask you if they can sponsor you and you want to be prepared.
I used e-mail a lot but also got creative: my out of office assistant, voice mail on home and cell phone all would say something like "I'm either on the phone, away from my desk or out training for the AIDS ride.." and the out of office assistant had a link to the plege site. Since the company I work for has an internal employee giving website I could use that.
Also the one thing I did differently last year was followup. People will respond affirmitively that they will sponsor you or volunteer that they will. If some months later they haven't, send a second letter. Folks get busy, have other priorities and expenses, or just forget. A lot of times that does the trick. Because of that I met my pledge goal earlier last year with fewer sponsors.