Tour de Georgia kicks off

My hometown tour, the Tour de Georgia, gets underway today in Peachtree City, just south of Atlanta.

I'll be on the road chasing the race at least 2-3 days this year, and uploading as much to Flickr as I can. Most of my coverage of the race will be over at my site targeted to the Tour de Georgia, predictably enough called TdGblog.com.

I'm really happy we're seeing a 5th edition of the Tour de Georgia, but I'm obviously concerned about the race's future, between the uncertain sponsorship, the emergence of the Tour of California, and the continuing association by the public of bike racing with doping (rightly or wrongly). Once the pedals turn, all that's forgotten, though.

If you're in Georgia, or near Georgia, come and see it: this is a great race. There's a tremendous variety of terrain, from the open rolling countryside around Macon to corkscrewing little roads through the piney woods in the Appalachian foothills. This year, the downtown Atlanta circuit on Sunday means you can watch the race and socialize in Centennial Olympic Park or any of myriad bars and cafes. And the race has drawn some awesome performances: Jason McCartney's epic win in Dahlonega in 2004, the Landis/Danielson showdown on Brasstown Bald last year, and triggered the emergence of Juan José Haedo, who's starting to mix it up with the ProTour's best. You'll never have a better chance to get up close and personal with the riders.

Here's my stage/race preview.