For all you Jelly Belly fans, we thought you might like to read some of the articles written about the team during the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Here’s one from the Daily Republic in Fairfield, Calif. We’ll be posting more so keep checking the site for new articles and new results.
Jelly Belly cyclists weather visit to Fairfield
By Cecil Conley
Daily Republic
FAIRFIELD – Once the Jelly Belly cycling team arrived Tuesday in Fairfield, the eight riders went out for dinner at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
Coach Danny Van Haute said he was not at all surprised to see several of his cyclists clean their plates and go back for seconds . . . and thirds.
‘(The restaurant) lost money on us,’ Van Haute quipped. ‘It was a team dinner, so (the riders) didn’t have to pay for it.’
At least there were no concerns about the cyclists eating too much. They will be burning thousands of calories when they compete in the fourth annual Amgen Tour of California, which begins Saturday in Sacramento. The nine-day, 750-mile race ends Feb. 22 in Escondido.
On their way to Sacramento, the Jelly Belly cyclists took time Wednesday to visit the company’s Fairfield factory and celebrate the team’s 10th anniversary. Jelly Belly’s sponsorship of the squad, which Van Haute created, is the longest of any U.S. professional cycling team.
The sponsorship comes with an obligation. Van Haute said the cyclists have to realize that promoting Jelly Belly is as important as competing. There have been riders who thought handing out Jelly Belly beans at races and appearing at Jelly Belly stores was asking too much.
That may explain why those riders are no longer on the team.
During their visit Wednesday, the eight cyclists joined a few Jelly Belly employees for an afternoon ride. The contingent was just a few blocks away from the factory when rain began to pour. Van Haute quickly called off the ride to save the employees from a drenching.
The coach was not concerned about his cyclists, who encountered snow last Saturday when they competed in the Boulevard Road Race in Southern California. A shower was not going to dampen the day for rider Bernard van Ulden, who has been with Jelly Belly for two years.
‘We may have nine days of this,’ Van Ulden said in reference to the Tour of California.
Australian Jonny Clarke, a first-year rider with Jelly Belly, was not going to complain about the rain. After all, Clarke and the other members of the team were given an opportunity earlier in the day to pillage the Jelly Belly souvenir shop without having to reach for their wallets.
‘We got to run amok,’ Clarke said.
Clarke is one of four new riders on the team this year and has already learned that promoting Jelly Belly is ‘part of the deal.’
‘You do it with a smile on your face,’ he said.
Van Haute has realistic expectations for the Tour of California. He doesn’t expect his team to contend for the overall title, not with the likes of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in the field. The coach would be overjoyed if one of his riders wins a stage.
If nothing else, Van Haute hopes his cyclists will make their presence felt during the race and draw the attention of the television cameras.
‘This is going to be on live TV, so we have to get on TV somehow. I have to look at it that way,’ he said. ‘If we have to, we’ll tackle Lance . . . well, we won’t do that.’
