I've just finished reporting on the Tour of Missouri, my last cycling event of the season.

For the first time in a decade, I didn't attend the Tour de France this summer. But I still needed my cycling fix, and I found it in the U.S. I reported everyday from the three most notable U.S. stage races — the Tour of California in February, the Tour de Georgia (and Tennessee) in April and the just completed inaugural Tour of Missouri.

Traveling in Georgia and Missouri were new experiences, and both are interesting states.

I ate for the first time (and second and third times) in Waffle Houses in Georgia. I visited a unique auto museum in Fulton, Mo. started by the owner of a potato chip company. And in Concordia, Mo., I stopped in a former gas station converted into a drive-in in 1954 and ate deep-fried cauliflower and a cherry freeze at 11 a.m. while on a break during a four-hour drive.

I've driven through most of California several times. But I had a new experience during the Tour of California. I drove South to North over The Grapevine, the ominous Interstate 5 mountain pass, in a hailstorm.

And I went for beautiful morning runs in each state — along the waterfront in Long Beach, Pacific Grove and Branson — and past Busch Stadium to the famous Arch in St. Louis.

What I'm trying to say is that for the past few years, covering bicycle racing has become more important to me for everything else but the racing.

No other pictures better illustrate my perspective than the accompanying two images
in this blog. The first one (the trucks) was taken by my friend Casey Gibson.

A well-established freelance photographer, Gibson has traveled the world for many years covering cycling. But it's the side-story shots he takes, like the side stories I've discovered along the way, that make travel and bike racing interesting.

Casey took took the image in Branson, Mo., where State Patrol officers working in conjunction with local race officials decided the best way to secure the time trial course was with use of these trucks — 73 of them. Look close and you'll a lone cyclist making his way along the route.

If you'd like to view more of Casey Gibson's work, visit his site: www.cbgphoto.com.

I took the second image in Chickamauga, Tenn. After a mid-race stage, I checked into my ground level hotel room, opened the drapes and sliding glass door, watched the sunset and gazed at the lake and the surroundings area. I took this shot the next morning just before running around the lake.

Riders from the now defunct Discovery Channel team — Levi Leipheimer, Jani Brajkovic and George Hincapie — respectively won the three races. But none of their wins or any of the other riders' stage wins provide lasting memories like everything else about the trips.

And so until next season, that's it for cycling for me in '07.