Le tour de France

A.k.a. la grande boucle ('the big loop') or simply Le Tour, this legendary bicycle ride is usually either considered:

• a boring tradition that gives old people a reason to stay inside and watch TV during the hot summer days, and people with nothing better to do a good excuse to go camp out on the road in the hope to catch a glimpse of the race
  
• a mythic race of epic proportions, a marathon on wheels that only the strongest can hope to win
  

Personally, I've never really cared, and am not about to start.