Stolen from a suggestion in Chief Commessaire's post thread. If we here know so damn much about cycling, and America, why don't we design the Tour of America course ourselves? Wait a minute...
OK, so it needs to be 20 stages and 2000 miles. It should go coast-to-coast, but as a large nation I think there would have to be one long transfer, at least... though be frugal with the number of transfers, they're race-killers too. Logistics include starting and finishing near places with enough hotels; catching some major cities but only as signature events, otherwise they're a pain; and trying to draw in some of the great places in this country to ride a bike.
I will say for starters, though a future edition should finish in Seattle after climbing Washington Pass, for now let's get to California first. I'm ambivalent about starting in either DC or New York. If you can fit in Georgia or the Carolinas, I think that's great, though there should only be two spates of climbing stages. And finally, it's summer, try not to cause too much heatstroke.
OK, have at it! Suggestions welcomed on the overall route or just a particular stage or set of stages.