Monday, January 19, 2004

Adding climbs to the Tour of Georgia

What great timing my email was.
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Aronhalt
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 9:11 AM
To: fobusek@charter
Subject: Re: mountain stages in 2004 ToG


one step ahead of you - look for course announcement - which you'll endorse - end of January - see you in the spring!

Chris Aronhalt
Deputy Executive Director
Tour de Georgia
285 Peachtree Center Ave, Suite 1000
Atlanta, GA 30303
www.tourdegeorgia.com

>>> "Frank Obusek" 01/18/04 19:49 PM >>>
Hi Chris,

I'm a cyclist and I love to climb the mountain roads around my home town of Asheville, NC. I've ridden in north GA as well.

If you watch the Tour de France you'll notice that the mountain stages draw the most interest and stir up anticipation amongst spectators. Well, GA has its fair share of nice mountain roads that could be included in the Tour of Georgia.

Why not work with the route planner and a mountain mapper to get the following gaps on the route map?
Hogpen
Unicoi
Neels
Jacks
Woofpen.

Why not have a mountain stage finish at Brasstown Bald? Or, even include some of the nice mountain roads in neighboring Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, Cesars Head in SC is one of George Hincapi's favorite rides. Make your way up near Tellico Plains, TN and include the Cherahala Skyway through werstern NC.

With the inclusion of more mountain stages, eventually the Tour of Georgia would be a very attractive road race and hopefully get some international attention. The current international race schedules need a nice April race. The ToG has a great opportunity to bring bike racing to the States.

Anyway, I'm sure that your planning people have thought of these as potential routes. I know it would bring some more international exposure to the Tour of Georgia.

Frank Obusek