The Tour de France is about halfway through at the moment. It's one of the longest, most gruelling sporting tests on earth, lasting three weeks, thousands of miles and mountain climbs the likes of which just don't exist in the UK.
I've always enjoyed watching it each year, though have to admit I do wish they'd bring the old music back which is infinitely better than the newer theme tune since ITV took over. Not as many people watch it in the UK as perhaps it deserves, though having said that the success of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins is changing that.
For most people, the serious racing only really got going on Sunday and Monday of this week when the riders hit the alps. Despite their best efforts, the cameras really can't explain just how steep and difficult the roads in the alps are - it's genuinely staggering to watch the world's best climbing out of the saddle and accelerating away up a 10% gradient having already been in the saddle for five hours and climbed several mountains that day already.
What's made this year so compelling has been the fact that two riders have been able to do this again and again - for that reason if nothing else, watching stage 9 from Tuesday really, truly is worth it.
Of course, not everyone can accelerate like this, even when it comes to many of the best in the world. Probably the most famous example of this involved Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich a few years back on the slopes of the most famours alpine climb of them all - Alpe D'Huez.
Say what you like about the former (and I've never particularly warmed to him), but the ability, confidence and mental strength to hold that look and then completely blow his rivals away is one of the great sporting moments of the past decade.
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