by kathryn purcell • photos by tom wages
BEAN TEAM
This bright colored, FAST-MOVING phenomenon is the ATHENS-BASED PROFESSIONAL cycling team.
The Jittery Joe's PRO CYCLING TEAM illustrates the growing POPULARITY of the SPORT.
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They can only be spotted from a distance. Up close, they become a blur: An indefinable streak of orange and white. It’s difficult to determine where one ends and the next begins, where body meets bike, or where wheel hits the pavement. A swift breeze indicates they’ve passed. This bright-colored, fast-moving phenomenon is the Athens-based professional cycling team, the “Bean Team.” Speeding over 100 miles of ground in a few hours, this is just another day of training for the eleven-member gang. Conceived in 2002, the team gained sponsorship from the coffee shop franchise, Jittery Joe’s. Since then, the pro cyclists have gained a loyal fan base of area coffee connoisseurs. In addition to committing primary sponsorship funding to the team, Jittery Joes roasts a signature coffee blend called Morning Ride. “We actually sell that coffee to fund the team,” says team director Jesse Lawler, who has been with the Bean Team since its inception. Most corporate sponsorships aren’t quite as creative, and Lawler believes the grassroots marketing strategy lends a certain aura to the team. “I think it brings with it a little underdog status,” he says. The underdogs have come a long way in seven years, keeping pace with the growing popularity of pro cycling in the United States. The team now recruits members internationally and competes in races across the country. “The team has had to really ante up to be able to compete and bring in more sponsors,” Lawler says. “We do more events; we do bigger events.”
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The Bean Team sped into 2008 with five new and six returning riders from the United States and Australia. Aussie captain Trent Wilson and American Neil Shirley headline the team, but as the youngest recruit, Jared Barrilleaux, explains, “Cycling is more of a team sport than anyone realizes. For a rider to take a win, it takes a team.” This explains why these orange-clad pro cyclists are always spotted training in a pack. When it comes time to race, each rider has a particular job to do, whether it’s preserving the sprinter’s energy by riding ahead and providing a draft or sprinting to the finish line. This makes composing a team roster complicated. Moreover, different races require different skills: the team needs strong road racers (to race over long distances), criterium riders (for multiple-lap races over short, closed courses), and time trialists (to race against the clock for the shortest time on a given course). “We get e-mailed resumes like you wouldn’t believe,” Lawler explains. “We start by looking at guys who have the skills we need.” For example, the team needed a strong sprinter, so they recruited Jonathan Cantwell from Australia. “We also needed some other strong ‘domestiques,’ as they’re called. They’re ‘worker riders.’ They really help guys like Jonathan get to the finish line in good shape. These guys have to understand what it means to give 100 percent for the team,” Lawler says. Finally, the team recruits “wild cards,” the major criteria being a good attitude. “We brought on a couple of young guys, a couple ‘wild cards,’ as we call them,” Lawler explains. “We’re not really sure what they can or what they can’t do, but they are very physically talented guys and they are motivated and excited at the opportunity.” Twenty-three year old Barrilleaux is a wild card from California. Other team members include Ben Kneller, a time trialist from Durango, Calif.; returning champ Chad Hartley from Chicago; young talent Tim Henry from Atlanta; Oregon powerhouse Evan Elken, the longest-running member of the team; second-year member Matt Shriver, also from Durango; Australian sprinter Cody Stevenson; and Australian newcomer Ryan Sullivan.
“CYCLING is more of a team sport than ANYONE REALIZES. For a RIDER to take a WIN, it TAKES A TEAM.” A A TYPICAL TYPICAL DAY DAY OF OF TRAINING TRAINING FOR FOR THE THE BEAN BEAN TEAM: TEAM: Five Five hours, hours, 100 100 miles, miles, four four essential essential climbs, climbs, riding riding threshold threshold up up the the climbs, climbs, riding riding tempo tempo on on the the flats flats with with intervals, intervals, building building speed, speed, endurance, endurance, and and strength. strength.
BELOW: The Athens Twilight Criterium takes place downtown every April. Founded in 1980 by Gene Dixon, the criterium was the first nighttime race organized in the U.S. in over 60 years. What began as a race with 40 competitors has since grown to eight separate race classes and 150 cyclists competing in the main event, the men’s criterium, a 60-km race around downtown Athens. This is one of many races where you’ll find members of the Bean Team competing to win.
Lawler credits the team’s growth with the increasing popularity of cycling in North America. While Europe has always been the home of pro cycling, Lance Armstrong brought back more than a trophy when he won the Tour de France– he brought back a sport. Now stage races are popping up across the country and drawing huge crowds. “I know at the Tour of California, they estimated about 1.7 million spectators in a week of racing. The sport has come a long way,” says Lawler. Currently, the state of Georgia hosts one of the largest stage races in the country, the Tour de Georgia. Established in 2003 by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the competition is held in April each year. It is one of four internationally recognized stage races in the United States, sanctioned by the USA Cycling and Union Cycliste Internationale. In 2004, Bean Team member Cesar Grajales, a Colombian, won the stage at Brasstown Bald, beating Lance Armstrong for the honor, the same year that Armstrong won the race overall. Lawler considers that one of the team’s top three accomplishments. The other two include former member Trent Lowe, who now rides for a European team, being named Best Young Rider at the Tour de Georgia in 2005, and current team member Neil Shirley taking third at the U.S. Pro Championships last year.
Over 2.8 million spectators have watched the Tour de Georgia in the past five years, generating $148 million in “direct economic impact” to Georgia, according to the event Website. Cyclists travel over 600 miles of varying routes. “The Tour of Georgia has a reputation of being a true stage race because it has a little of everything. It has a time trial; it has flat stages, which are more for sprinters; it has two hard mountain stages for mountain climbers, including the one at Brasstown Bald, which is just known to be an epic stage and a true test for the top guys in the world,” says Lawler. The Tour de Georgia takes place in late April, which is the perfect time to train for the Tour de France. Famous cyclists like Armstrong often compete to prepare for that quintessential cycling race. This year’s tour covered stage races from Tybee Island to Savannah, Statesboro to Augusta, Washington to Gainesville, Suwanee to Dahlonega, Blairsville to Brasstown Bald Mountain, a team time trial in Braselton, and the final circuit race in Atlanta. “Finishing the Tour de Georgia was way above and beyond anything I ever dreamed of doing,” says Barrilleaux, one of eight Bean Team members on this year’s Tour de Georgia roster. Competing against fourteen other teams (112 riders), Bean Team cyclists Jonathan Cantwell and Trent Wilson placed at stage three and five, respective-
“It’s really BREATHTAKING. Usually I’ve been on the other side WATCHING THE PROS, but it’s a real EYE-OPENER to be on the INSIDE as hudreds of FANS CHEER.”
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While EUROPE has always been the home of pro cycling, LANCE ARMSTRONG brought back more than a TROPHY when he WON the Tour de France. ly, and Neil Shirley won Most Aggressive Rider at Brasstown Bald. Back at the team headquarters in Athens, sipping on a tall cup of coffee at Jittery Joe’s following a five-hour morning ride in the Northeast Georgia Mountains, Barrilleaux tries to explain what it’s like to race in the Tour de Georgia. “It’s really breathtaking,” the young cyclist says. “Usually I’ve been on the other side of the fence watching the pros, but it’s a real eye-opener to be on the inside as hundreds of fans cheer from the sidelines.” Even though the Bean Team usually speeds by their fans, Jittery Joe’s sets up coffee booths on the sidelines of every major race, so that fans can get upclose-and-personal with team members over a cup of joe. “I think we’re really in touch with our supporters, because we’re so close with our sponsorship,” says Barrilleaux.
While the team aims to please their fans, Lawler says the cyclists don’t all train with a specific goal in mind. “There are just too many races in the year to focus on just one,” he says. “I just want to see the team improve overall, get more consistent with results.” Even with the apparent popularity of cycling in North America– Armstrong is now a household name, the number of stage races in the United States and Canada has grown drastically, and the continent is gaining more and more international recognition for its races– Lawler still feels the sport has yet to come into its own. His meter for that determination? Television. “We have a lot of spectators at these stage races, but, like anything in America and in the world, if you’re not on TV, it’s going to be a little bit smaller than other sports. But, I figure if billiards can get on ESPN, certainly
cycling should.” While the rest of the world awaits cycling on network television, residents of the Athens area need only look for a long, flat road not far from a Jittery Joes on any given morning to watch the sport live and in person when the Bean Team goes whizzing by. Just be careful not to blink, or you’ll miss them. Kathryn Purcell is the managing editor of the Morgan County Citizen and a freelance writer living in Athens, Ga.
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