Sticker man

Say what? A BikePortland.org sticker on a bike in Alaska? You damn betcha. I'm happy to fly the flag for a good bike town and a great website, especially when the stickers are so cool. I'm the proud owner of the only set of Jonathan's stickers in Alaska (at least I was at the time he mailed them a few weeks ago). Now, Alaska's represented in his sticker gallery.

I put Monday to good use and spent a couple of hourse riding across town to pick up a "Yoga for Athletes" DVD. Time to start a little cross-training and see if it makes me a better rider come summer. People tell me yoga's the way to go.

My body's startin' to show the wear and tear of four decades of amateur sports, injuries, bad diets and almost no pre-workout stretching. I have the flexibility of a day-old corpse. Back in my college days, I was training in karate—everytime I had to kick at someone's head, I half expected to hurt myself.

Anyway, it's the time of year to crack the whip. Start chippin' away at 10 pounds that need to go. I'm even giving up my weeknight wine as a disciplinary measure. Yeah, yeah, I know red wine is healthy, but one glass usually turns into two. Not a big deal, but hardly the energy boost I need to get my ass out of the chair for a walk or an attempt at this yoga stuff.

It's not a New Year's resolution thing, either. I don't believe in them. This just happens to be the time when I'm ready to turn away from the slacker habits I fall into at the end of each summer riding season. When the snow starts falling, I figure I've earned a little break from exercise, and a little . . . well, let's just call it "dietary flexibility."

Because I've kept riding all winter, I've had to put a little more effort into the gluttony. January is when I pick up the check and start paying the bill.