Prepared to get happy®for El Tour on Nov. 22; they are deep into coffee

Expect to be happy and see happy® at El Tour de Tucson on Nov. 22.

Cycling with friends, family and plenty of folks should do the trick as well as a cup of happy® coffee, which will make its debut at El Tour.

They are deep into coffee and want El Tour participants to be part of their party.

“Coffee is part of the cycling community culture,” said Melanie Hayward, the company’s self-described happy purpose advocate. “We’re excited to be joining El Tour de Tucson this year — it’s not just the biggest ride in the country; it’s one of the most inspiring. Thousands of people are coming together to do what they love while supporting the causes closest to their hearts. That’s our kind of event.”

Perfect. Two forces coming together to make for a happy day on the course that starts and ends at the Tucson Convention Center. It’s never a bad time to have coffee and the happy® crew will be there to provide it with what they said was the “most hoppin’ booth at the Expo and Fiesta.”

“(happy®) will be handing out free full-sized – and seriously delicious™ – products to energize riders and sharing the happy® story,” Hayward said.

Hayward said they are working on forming a team to ride with partner NAMI, the largest grassroots mental health nonprofit in the US.

“It’s important because mental health is health and it affects all of us,” she said. “Our two designers are sports enthusiasts and avid cyclists, so you may be able to spot them on the course wearing custom happy® x NAMI team kits that they’ve designed.”

happy® has partnered with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) in part because “mental health is at the core of everything we do,” Hayward said. “One in five adults lives with a mental illness and all of us experiences the impact of mental health in one way or another.”

The company partnered with NAMI before a single product hit the shelves and approached it in a unique way.

“We gifted them an equity (ownership) share in the company to deeply embed our partnership in our company’s DNA for the long-haul,” Hayward said. “They’re true partners in every way. On top of that, every package of happy products has information about mental health and NAMI’s free, nationwide resources. That way every time you have a cup of happy coffee, you know help and hope are there for you and your loved ones. We want to make conversations around mental health more visible, more supported, and more normalized. Including NAMI in this ride is just one of the many ways we extend our work to support theirs.”

Co-founders Robert Downey Jr and Craig Dubisky have made it a fun and, um, happy place to work. Yes, that Robert Downey Jr, of the Avenger movies and others.

“He absolutely loves coffee (maybe that’s the secret source of his superpowers?),” Hayward said. “He’s an advocate for sustainability – including cycling as a friendlier transportation option. I wonder who would win a bike race, Ironman or (Lance) Armstrong?”