For the first time in a decade,  I won't be attending the Tour de France  The race hasn't even begun and I miss it already. I don't miss the competition. It's everything else.

I arrived at my first Tour a few days after the 1997 start, and I was immediately lost. But a decade ago, before Motorola's morph into U.S. Postal and before the Posties transitioned into Discovery Channel, Marty Jemison was a teammate of Lance Armstrong's, and Jemison's wife, Jill, assumed an unoffical role as the team's media representative.

Sensing my confusion, Jill helped me throughout the Tour. She offered me rides and found hotel rooms and often apologized for no reason. It was only 10 years ago, but there was a still an "innocence" around the team then. We got along great. She did more PR for the team with her smile and helpful nature than it's ever had since.

A lot has changed, of course. But what I remember most about the Tour through the years are the people like Jill Jemison. Plenty of other journalists, policemen, firemen, hotel owners, traveling companions and strangers have helped me through the years, and it's on those occasions when I feel invigorated by
a simple notion. With rare exception, people are good. It's not The French vs. Americans. It's politicians vs. politicians. Shame on them.

As I gained confidence through years of traveling to the Tour, I began to help other journalists as they discovered the Tour. It's stuff like that — the camaraderie — I'll miss. I'll miss the unexpected great meals in small villages, the unique innkeepers, the drives through open fields, the mountains, vineyards, sunflowers and the friends with whom I've traveled, including Bruce Aldrich who took this blog's two images last summer. I miss my press room colleagues, the guys who work in the telecommunications room, the chamber of commerce representatives and I miss the daily banter of the Tour. Most of all, I'll miss the spirit of the adventure.

I'll be writing about the Tour this year from home, and that's fine, for now. There's only a year until the 2008 Tour.