We had a nice visit with Kathleen's aunt from Atlanta, Jane Kuykendall, over the Christmas holiday. Seeing her got me thinking of the Dodge Tour de Georgia. A quick check of their website indicates that the 2005 race is scheduled for April 19 - 24. No route announcement has been made at this time.

Regular Operation Gadget readers will probably remember my interest in the The Lance Chronicles television program which aired on The Outdoor Life Network. The Tour de Georgia was a major feature of this series.

I thought the 2004 Tour de Georgia was very entertaining. There's no doubt that it turned out to be helpful in judging Lance Armstrong's fitness for the Tour de France, still two and a half months in the future at that point. As was the case in the Tour de France, Armstrong won a stage in a sprint finish. At the time, some said that was indicative of the weakness of the Tour de Georgia field. I think not.

I'm pointing the dates of this race out to pro cycling fans who live in the U.S. in case they want to consider planning a trip.