Big Assed Night of Bikes

One of my favorite radio shows (Ron and Fez show now heard on XM) once promoted a boxing match that they called the Big Assed Night of Fights. Big A.S.S. was short for the All Secret Society, kind of a fan club (my card is number is 14324). Anyway, I started my trip to Sicily by staying in San Dona di Piave, where the LG warehouse is. I have to pick up some bikes for display. With nothing on the Slingbox to watch in my room, I decided to go for a walk. I know the town pretty well, having stayed there numerous times. For some reason, everywhere I looked reminded me just how important cycling is to the Italians... hence, I present the Big Assed Night of Bikes... 

This "don't lean bikes here" sign made me laugh... why would I pick up my bike, cross this pebbled garden, and lean my bike against this tree? And doesn't the sign itself kind of take away the effect of the 'beautiful' display anyway? And isn't that same zen kind of cheapened by the two garbage cans greeting you at the entrance of said garden?

I'm sure somewhere there's a blog that shows cycling team sponsors caught in the wild. The beginning of each season there's always a list of cycling teams and what each sponsor makes or does. In San Dona alone, I saw a Castorama store (remember those guys with what was recently written up as one of the worst team kits ever?), a Liquigas tanker, a store selling Saeco machines (as well as Caffita coffee capsules) and this Aqua & Sapone store...

And this guy has seen better evenings. I guess he really wanted to be a hero by riding his bike home drunk... can anybody say "RAGBRAI"? The great thing about this is that some ad exec thinks this is the perfect way to sell jeans! Actually now that I look at it again... he was actually drinking while riding his bike. I'll repeat myself... RAGBRAI?