Meg Evans

Over the Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I rowed in the Dogwood Masters regatta in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  That’s our favorite place to row because it has perfectly straight, well-buoyed sprint lanes, and we like the Southern warmth after our chilly Ohio winters. Of course, we’re out of practice after not traveling for so long, but we much enjoyed getting back in the world again and seeing our friends (and competitors) from other rowing clubs.

I thought that I’d be much slower racing my single, but my time was only about ten seconds slower than in the 2019 regatta. My husband pointed out that there wasn’t as much current this year, which slowed everyone down by about ten seconds, so I hadn’t actually lost any speed.

The boat in the center of the photo is mine (yes, I know it looks tiny, but these boats are so long that it’s hard to get everything in the picture). I crossed the finish line second. Because there were two older women in the race (who are on the left of the photo, several boat lengths behind me), I didn’t get a medal after their age handicaps had been figured into the results. Still, it was a good day in the real world.

My exercise room has a new occupant, and it is not a dinosaur. After borrowing old Concept2 ergs from the rowing club twice to use in online races over the winter, my husband and I decided to buy a new one. The Hydrow that we bought in 2019 has fun instructor-led workouts, while the Concept2 just has a small monitor that displays the pace and other basic statistics.

Concept2 has more options in that it can be programmed for either time or distance and for intervals, which Hydrow cannot; everything on Hydrow is time-based. So a Concept2 is very good for training, in addition to online races, some of which require all competitors to use Concept2 machines.

We much appreciated the rowing club’s generosity in allowing us to borrow the old machines, which are in reasonably good condition, considering that they’ve been kept in a non-climate-controlled boathouse for 15 years. Having a nice new Concept2 in our basement will be much more comfortable, though; and now we won’t inconvenience any club members by borrowing machines that someone might have wanted to use. And, if it gets late in the day and neither of us has gotten any exercise yet, we can both row at the same time, rather than one of us having to wait.

Concept2 ergs are still very affordable. Unlike many companies, they did not raise prices during the pandemic. We had to be on a waitlist for six weeks, but that was reasonable, and the machine was shipped promptly when we reached the top of the list. It arrived yesterday, and we’re happy with it.

Even though I wasn’t as fast in the virtual rowing regatta two weeks ago as I would have liked to be, my husband and I still got prizes for our double crew on the “dinosaurs.” The online racing software allowed us both to row a 1000-meter race at the same time as a virtual double by adding our distances together and automatically stopping when the combined total reached 2000 meters.

All of the other competitors in the double race were men, so although we weren’t the fastest crew, we were separately awarded a first prize as the only mixed crew. Instead of medals, we got Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards in the mail with a very cute donut rower cartoon and the race information, which we can keep as souvenirs even after cashing them in for donuts.

I haven’t yet decided what kinds of donuts I want to get, and it may be a while because the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts is five miles from my house and a bit out of the way—but that pink cartoon donut with sprinkles is definitely making me hungry!

Like everyone else this year, I’ve been wanting to get away. Somewhere, anywhere. Back on the mother ship, maybe, on the way to another galaxy. As that isn’t a choice at present, I’ve been putting images on my digital art display from different parts of the world. This rail bridge shown in early spring crosses the River Wye, along the border of England and Wales.

But I can’t really complain too much about the lack of travel. Yesterday afternoon was lovely and warm here, and I was able to get out with my husband and row our double scull for the first time this season. It was a bit windy, but we were fine. I had almost no blisters, even though my hands are still very soft from being indoors all winter. Today it’s raining and the river is getting high, but I’m still happy that we got back out on our “mother ship.”

Over the long weekend, my husband and I got out rowing every day. The weather was nice and sunny, though definitely on the windy side. We rowed a double on Saturday and Monday, which doesn’t get blown around as much as a single because it is larger and more stable. On Sunday it seemed mostly calm in the early afternoon, and we went out in singles, but the wind started picking up toward the end of our row.

I got an email at work last week asking for photos of Labor Day activities to share with the group, so I asked my husband to take a photo of me rowing the single. He brought his phone in a waterproof bag, and although the sun made it hard to see, he managed to get a pretty good landscape view.

On Monday we went out early too, which turned out to be a good thing because some ferocious thunderstorms developed later in the day. Now the river is full of debris and too high to row. Of course, we’re back to work anyway, so I am not complaining. The rain was for the best, as it has been so dry around here.

I’ve mentioned in a few posts that my husband and I bought a Hydrow rowing machine last fall. We enjoy the online sessions, which they call “Live Outdoor Reality” because the instructors row on the river during most of the workouts (there are also a few indoor videos, for those who prefer a studio setting). The company is in Boston, so they’re usually on the Charles River, except when they travel to Miami Beach in the winter and to other destinations on occasion for more variety.

Both of us have been working out regularly and getting more fit. Also, we got a nice perk recently when Hydrow offered us a free coaching session (via Zoom) from an instructor. Our coach was James Dietz, who gave us both some helpful tips. We had met his father, who is also a coach, a few years ago at a rowing camp hosted by our club. Small world! This picture, which I received in an email afterward, shows me sitting sideways on the rowing machine during part of that conversation, with the instructor’s image on the right. #myhydrowcoach

The rowing machine is in a basement room that was overflowing with random junk five years ago, as shown in this decluttering post. It’s all cleaned up now, and though it still could use a bit of decorating, it is certainly much improved. Good to have some fresh new energy in the house!

Although the weekend was chilly enough that I wouldn’t have said it felt like spring, my husband went out sculling on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. He rowed a double with another member of our club who loves rowing enough to go out on a late-winter day when it’s sunny, if a bit windy. The water temperature was cold enough that he wouldn’t have risked going out on the river in a single, which is less stable; but he had a good time in the double.

Monday was cooler, a dark day with low clouds. I put an image of a foggy path winding through a park on my digital art display, and it matched the outside view with more accuracy than I might have preferred.

The weather didn’t change much on Tuesday, and this morning looks about the same. That’s all right, though—it is close enough to spring that the birds can be heard chirping happily at sunrise, even when there’s not much sun to be seen. It won’t be long before we can get out on the river regularly and see the herons, beavers, and other wildlife.

The rowing club ended the season with its annual Jingle Bell Row on Sunday afternoon. The sweep team decorated a boat like Santa’s sleigh, with eight rowers wearing reindeer antlers while the coxswain had on a Santa suit. To announce that they were ready, the rowers sounded off by reindeer name instead of doing it the usual way by seat number.

We had a total of eleven people who wanted to go out on the water, and I rowed a double with another woman. It was a lovely mild autumn day, sunny and calm.

The water was cold, but another club member volunteered to drive a safety launch while taking photos; and nobody got wet, so it was a good day all around. We had hot chocolate afterward, and a few people brought homemade baked items to share, which included a yummy pumpkin bread made with a pumpkin from a backyard garden. Everyone was left with good memories for the winter months ahead.