Jittery Joe’s Team Training Camp
The Bean Team is Back! Jittery Joes's just finished their camp in Athens, Georgia.

The season has begun for The Bean Team! While most teams’ training camps have come and gone, the Jittery Joe’s Team took the late option and enjoyed some amazing spring weather in Athens, Georgia.

The Team in front of a Jittery Joe’s coffee shop. The Mini’s are back!

The weekend started out with everyone getting into town on Thursday evening. Friday morning was spent at The Hub Bicycles where the shop owner Brian (who is also the team’s mechanic) set everyone up on their new Garneau 6.2 and 6.4 bikes. The bikes are outfitted this year with some great components from Zero Gravity, Cane Creek, and Profile Design, and the boys were raving. After a couple of quick changes of some stems sizes and San Marco saddles, the boys were off to Tifosi Optics headquarters to pick out new eyewear.

After Tifosi, everyone headed to the Dowd’s residence to enjoy lunch and dig into their Louis Garneau kits. It took about an hour to try on everything that we had from Garneau: jerseys, bibs, undershirts, shoes, helmets, accessories and casual wear. Then it was off on the first team ride of the year.

It's a peach of a day in Georgia for a team ride photo courtesy of the "Bean Team"

Friday late afternoon was spent going over sponsors and plans. Keith, the founder of Jittery Joe’s, gave a great talk to the boys about his plans for the team over the next 10 years. Some time was spent checking out the new Zero Gravity crank set that will be coming out later this spring as well.

Dan Byrne from Byrne Specialty Gasses took the entire team out to leisurely dinner at a local French Bistro and then the boys headed to their evening activity, to find out who REALLY was the team leader. The stakes were high and the focus was sharp as the boys sat down at the poker table for some Texas Hold-Em. After a few hard-fought hours, Trent Wilson showed why the current world poker champ hails from Australia and ended up taking the top prize of the night.

Saturday the guys headed out for a longer ride in the morning and got haircuts from the local Karma Salon in the afternoon in preparation for the Launch Party that night. Pierre from Louis Garneau joined us and talked with the team a bit about all of their products and the science behind them. Did you know that their Carbon Ion Jersey is made partly from carbon fiber and actually increases blood flow to your muscles? Or that their new Air Gel chamois is made from clam shells?

Saturday evening was the famous Jittery Joe’s Launch Party at the Roasting company. There was a band, stand up comedian, and lots of Jittery Joe’s coffee stout beer made by Terrapin Beer. A few more than 100 people enjoyed the evening as the riders were introduced and posters made by ABC Printing were signed for everyone present.

Sunday the team enjoyed a morning ride with the sponsors from Hank Aaron Mini, Maxxis and Louis Garneau as well as some other VIP’s. Sunday afternoon was photo day as we did a group photo of the team as well as riding shots to be used in advertising throughout the year.

Monday the team did a few more photos as well as some testing and bike fit. Dr. Michael Ross, author of Maximum Performance for Cyclists, came down from Boston to give everyone a bike fit and make sure everyone was ready to go.

Austin King of Phoenix, Arizona Crunching the numbers photo c. Jittery Joes Cycling Team

Jeb Stewart from Endurofit and Dr. Karl Barnett were on hand to help out as Josh Miller put the boys through some rigorous testing.

Tuesday was a relaxing day at camp with a three hour ride and a nap. Wednesday the boys flew out to their first of three California races, the Central Valley Classic. Be watching the web for our results!

Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team: www.thebeanteam.com
Aaron's Pro Women's Cycling Team: www.aaronscyclingteam.com