Dave Aiello from Operation Gadget also blogged about the Tour de Georgia, but unlike me, Dave received media credentials.

What is interesting about cycling (opposed to football or baseball) is that some of the better organizations that cover it are web-based. These includes sites such as Cycling News and Pez Cycling News. Publicity directors for races are used to dealing with web-only media.

I asked Dave how the credential process went, and here is what he had to say:

Operation Gadget was fortunate enough to have a traffic spike that went from the 2004 Tour de France through to January 2005. I would say that the period from July to early November was due to cycling-related coverage, while November through January was due to our coverage of electronic gadgets.

I wanted to extend the cycling coverage traffic spike longer this year, so I looked at the calendar and decided that I would apply for credentials for the Tour de Georgia, the Wachovia Cycling Series including the US Pro Championships, and the NY City Cycling Championship. If I got a credential, I would cover each race in depth.

I applied for a Tour de Georgia credential. Jennifer Vincenzo, the Pubicity Director for the TdG, asked me to provide some examples of the coverage I would provide. I provided a list of 12 different story ideas, most of which were behind-the-scenes or sports technology related. I clearly staked out these areas as differentiators for Operation Gadget.

If you look at the coverage I provided, I did several of the stories that I suggested in my credential request, including:

1) Mavic Keeps the Tour de Georgia Riders on the Road
2) How TV Cameras Follow the Tour de Georgia
3) How Race Referees Police the Tour de Georgia
4) Discovery Uses Personal Media Players to Fine-Tune TT Technique

The icing on the cake was when ThePaceline.com picked up the Personal Media Players article yesterday and made it their lead. We got an extra 100,000 hits from that, which is a significant boost from our expected traffic.

Congrats Dave.