First Timer's Experience At Ergomania

[[old] bobamiller]

I thought I had prepared myself for what to expect, and while I had from a competition perspective I was in no way prepared for the party atmosphere that surrounds the event. Not that that was a bad thing. Ergomania is held at Seattle Center's Center House on the main floor, which puts the event almost in the middle of the food court. Combine athletes ranging in skill from novice erger to age group world record holder to Olympian; teammates, friends and family of participants; the people who just stopped by to eat; loud rock music and a skilled announcer to keep things stirred up and one couldn't help having a good time.<br /><br />For me, since I was seeded at least a minute behind everybody else in men's senior heavy, things went about how I expected: With everybody around me going way faster than I was I had to focus hard on rowing my own race. I went out a little slower than I had intended, but with almost everybody else finishing way ahead of me it sounded like I had the crowd to myself for the last two or three hundred meters and was cheered on to a strong finish. I was last at 7:49.1, but that was faster than I thought I'd be able to go and I think I at least managed to keep my little boat on screen for the whole race.<br /><br />I met a few nice people (among them frequent forum contributor Paul Smith) and managed to restrain my shopping to two rowing books, a rowing calendar and a rowing instructional CD.<br /><br />And yes, I'll be back. It's iffy if I'll be a lightweight by then, but I should have something approaching 3.5 million meters behind me compared to the 850K meters I've rowed to date. I'll also have turned 50 and will at least be among the youngest rather than the oldest in my age group.<br /><br />I haven't seen detailed results yet, but the highpoints are up on row2k.com at <a href='http://www.row2k.com/news/news.cfm?ID=21384' target='_blank'>http://www.row2k.com/news/news.cfm?ID=21384</a><br /><br />Bob Miller<br />ramiller@blarg.net<br />49 year old novice erger lightweight slowly working my way out of a heavyweight body<br />

[[old] John Rupp]

Hi Bob,<br /><br />Congrats on your PB and thanks for the details on the race.<br /><br />I wonder if other venues also play loud rock music.<br /><br />Personally that would put me off rowing and I wouldn't be able to compete with conditions like that.<br /><br />If I ever plan to go to a race I will be sure to ask about that before entering.

[[old] dennish]

Bob, Well done. the first it seems to me is always the most memorable. Glad you got to met Paul. Very smart guy, I most always have no clue what he's telling me, numbers, graphs, more numbers, ratios, watts, blue lines, green lines. But he has improved things for me substanially. Did you get to met Luann, great lady, charming, soft spoken and a demon on the erg. And also Robert Menck, another powerhouse and incredibly decent fellow. Anyway, congrats on your first effort, besting your expectations is a huge big deal lin my mind. dennis

[[old] mpukita]

<!--QuoteBegin-bobamiller+Jan 29 2006, 11:39 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(bobamiller @ Jan 29 2006, 11:39 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I thought I had prepared myself for what to expect, and while I had from a competition perspective I was in no way prepared for the party atmosphere that surrounds the event. Not that that was a bad thing. Ergomania is held at Seattle Center's Center House on the main floor, which puts the event almost in the middle of the food court. Combine athletes ranging in skill from novice erger to age group world record holder to Olympian; teammates, friends and family of participants; the people who just stopped by to eat; loud rock music and a skilled announcer to keep things stirred up and one couldn't help having a good time.<br /><br />For me, since I was seeded at least a minute behind everybody else in men's senior heavy, things went about how I expected: With everybody around me going way faster than I was I had to focus hard on rowing my own race. I went out a little slower than I had intended, but with almost everybody else finishing way ahead of me it sounded like I had the crowd to myself for the last two or three hundred meters and was cheered on to a strong finish. I was last at 7:49.1, but that was faster than I thought I'd be able to go and I think I at least managed to keep my little boat on screen for the whole race.<br /><br />I met a few nice people (among them frequent forum contributor Paul Smith) and managed to restrain my shopping to two rowing books, a rowing calendar and a rowing instructional CD.<br /><br />And yes, I'll be back. It's iffy if I'll be a lightweight by then, but I should have something approaching 3.5 million meters behind me compared to the 850K meters I've rowed to date. I'll also have turned 50 and will at least be among the youngest rather than the oldest in my age group.<br /><br />I haven't seen detailed results yet, but the highpoints are up on row2k.com at <a href='http://www.row2k.com/news/news.cfm?ID=21384' target='_blank'>http://www.row2k.com/news/news.cfm?ID=21384</a><br /><br />Bob Miller<br />ramiller@blarg.net<br />49 year old novice erger lightweight slowly working my way out of a heavyweight body <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Bob:<br /><br />Outstanding review and great row ... keep it up, join the group of of us trying to get to, or stay at, LW, and get ready to make some waves in the 50-54 LW age bracket next year!<br /><br />Regards -- Mark<br /><br />PS - Paul Smith's not really a nice guy, it's just an act!<br /><br />