The Cheese Wheels.

A few posts back I wrote about my Ride, the noisy but (mostly) reliable "Run and Bike." He was purchased from a bike shop full of old men sitting on chairs that has a naked pin-up girl calendar hung on the wall two feet from a portrait of the pope. Not the current pope, mind you, but I always find this amusing nonetheless.

Anyways, since our maiden voyage to Colorno a few months ago, myself and a group of friends have taken up commuting to and from school during the week. We found a quiet route that winds first along a bike path then down some country roads, and not only has the ride gotten easier, but it is now quite fun. During the hour-long cycle we tell each other stories from our 'lives before' and talk through essay-writing difficulties, all the while enjoying the passing agricultural landscape. During the last few months we've watched the fields be plowed, manured (that day was unpleasant), planted, and tended to by the Farmer Giovannis of the land.

There's a pleasing sense of regularlity in our commute - every day we pass and say good-morning to the same two old men, one of whom will lament in Italian "Your train is so little today!" if there's only a few of us riding. There's also a number of dogs who say 'hello,' though if there wasn't a fence between the dogs and ourselves I'd probably have to interpret that differently.

As you can tell from below, we call ourselves The Cheese Wheels and yes, we do have a super-swank logo. It was designed by my friend Suzie's boyfriend Andres, who is currently completely a design Masters in Milan. For his work he was paid in chocolate chunk cookies, a currency which is fortunately of high value to him. My life would be a lot simpler if more people were willing to accept baked goods in return for services provided.

Being a member of a bike gang, especially one with a pun for a title, is very exciting for me. I've never been part of a gang before. I think it means I'm cool now.