TimbukTOO Team Room

[brick1101]

Getting back into a routine with the Holiday Challenge after being away from the boards for too long. Are the TimbukTOO's active anymore? Half the fun of the Holiday challenge was being in touch with the other members. We are four days into the challenge and not one posting... Been erging with this team for too many years to just jump ship but I don't want to do the challenge entirely on my own...

[jowings]

It has definitely been quiet. I miss the regular updates, but I guess it can’t be helped. I’m shooting for 200k this go around. I’ve gotten a good start. We will see if I can keep it up.

[army padre]

Greetings from San Antonio, TX--specifically Fort Sam Houston! Please allow me stand in the gap and provide a quick Holiday Challenge Update:
George M. 37,027
Karen O' 36,000
David R. 37,000
Kevin M. 21,170
Mark S. 25, 649
An Old Army Chaplain, 16, 430
Bel C. 27, 688
Josh O. 35, 730
Ken C. 12,094
Bill M. 29,234
Stephen M. 10,000
John S. 24, 284
Randy F. 40,000
Dan S. 10,000
Heather R. 15, 500
Riyad E. 10,000
Jamie B. 24,000
Matthew R. 4,382
Ray W. 1,239
Gabi H. 1,000
Kristin C. 12,050
Barbara B. 500
Warren F. 11,500
Adam M. 10,000
Bob G. 10,000
Glenn Y. 24,494
Bobbie Z. 18,500
Jim C. 10,000

These are the numbers I have as of 27 November at 9:34AM. The Holiday Challenge runs from 24 November to 24 December, and there are several charities to choose from--including an emerging one this year in response to the hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico. The first "Milestone" to shoot for is 100K meters. Concept 2 will contribute .02 cents for every meter. The second milestone is 200K, at which point Concept 2 will contribute .04 cents for every meter. It's wonderful to see so many rowers in the boat for this challenge! Here's the deal with the Oldest Chaplain in the U.S. Army: I will leave in a few days for about a week to an undisclosed location (filled with sand fleas, land crabs and mosquitoes large enough to carry away your first-born child)! Please remain calm: I will post an update when I return and also get back on the erg to shoot for 100K!

[johnb]

Hi team,

Sorry I have gone really quiet and haven’t been rowing much. I just needed to change up my activities and I have been focusing on other activities to work on my fitness lately. I may try to jump back in and row some meters for the holiday challenge. All my best and I hope everyone who celebrates it had a good thanksgiving.

[army padre]

Greetings from cold and rainy San Antonio, TX! What is the Texas definition of "cold?" 40 degrees Fahrenheit qualifies in this part of the world. I have safely returned from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and just found out that I will move to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois (very near St. Louis) in the summer of 2018. That may change my definition of "cold" substantially! As promised I will provide the latest Holiday Challenge numbers.

Congratulations to those mighty rowers who have already surpassed 100K meters:
Bill M. 103,685
Randy F. 120,000
Jaimie B. 124, 333
Jim C. 118,000
George M. 112, 215
Karen O' 106,000

Here is how the rest of us are doing:
Neil Q. 40,000
David R. 54,500
Kevin M. 75,447
Mark S. 66,347
The Oldest Chaplain in the Army, 36,430
Bel C. 69,761
Ken C. 68,724
Josh O. 61,366
Stephen M. 33,555
John S. 67,506
Robert E. 40,000
Jack F. 15,937
Dan S. 51,500
Heather R. 21,500
Kristin C. 49,867
Riyad E. 15,000
Matthew R. 23,809
Marcel D. 21,097
Ray W. 12,101
Gabi H. 1,000
Barbara B. 6,377
Warren F. 51,500
Glen Y. 92,114
Adam M. 15,000
Bob G. 40,000
Jeff H. 12,718
Bobbie Z. 84,000.

We have until 24 December to reach 100K or 200K to initiate Concept 2 donations to your chosen charity. I will be on the road again next week, but I feel confident that I can find a Concept 2 and close in on 100K. Happy rowing to all during this holiday season!

[CONLEJM]

Thanks for the update Padre! I am happy to say that because my knee(s) have much improved since the summer, I have consistently been rowing 50k meters or more every week, and as of today am on pace to hit 2MM meters by season's end. Still a stretch as logging season approaches, but I am sure gonna try.

I hope your move goes smoothly and without incident.

[jowings]

Made it! 200,556m

[goyo]

Last day to row in the Holiday Challenge. I just made it to my goal of 200K.
Congratulations to all TimbukTOOers that met challenge goals and raised money for their selected cause!

[army padre]

Merry Christmas to all Timbuk Too team members around the world! Here are the final standings for the 2017 Holiday Challenge--barring any last-minute additions for rows that took place on the 24th:

Congratulations to the following members who completed the challenge!
Warren F. 149,500
Glenn Y. 210,611
Kristin C. 102,337
Bob W. 240,428
Dan S. 120,160
Jaimie B. 291,216
Randy F. 270,000
John S. 180,996
Robert E. 200,007
Stephen M. 100,323
Ken C. 124,060
Bel C. 129,900
Bill M. 208,981
Josh O. 215,556
Kevin M. 134,240
Mark S. 166,347
David R. 122,000
Karen O. 210,000
George M. 241,568
Jim C. 200,000
Bobbie Z. 179,500

Unfortunately the dramatic climate change from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the "miracle snow" in San Antonio, Texas to the frozen tundra of Arlington National Cemetery (all within a 10-day period) left me with the mother of all colds. The great thing about this time of year is that we have an opportunity for redemption, which exists in the form of the next challenge that starts on January 1st. Please remember to join the challenge, and I look forward to seeing everyone's progress!

[army padre]

Happy New Year to everyone on our team and to all of our family members! As I mentioned in my last post on Christmas day, January 1st marks the beginning of a new 30-day team challenge. Concept 2 has also initiated individual, "resolution based" challenges to motivate us to row for a specific amount of meters or hours during the month of January. Personally this is a very heavy rowing cycle for me as I will do the January Virtual Team Challenge, followed by the military challenge during February and then the 15 March to 15 April challenge. I will do my best to keep up with the posting of our weekly results and offer encouragement as we begin tomorrow. My goal for the Virtual Team Challenge is to row 230K, which will take me over 1 million for the season thus far. Good luck and good rowing!

[goyo]

Happy New Year and good rowing to everyone in the January Virtual Challenge! My goal is to row at least 200k in January which will put me over 8 million lifetime. I have a secondary goal to keep up the rowing into February because I have typically dropped off significantly in February every year. I want 2018 to be different.

[army padre]

Thanks for posting your goal, Glenn! Knocking out 200K meters for the challenge is right up there with my goal for 230K. As always, the Army will intervene and have me travel for a week in January, but I hope to be able to find a Concept 2 while I am in Coronado, CA. My goal for this challenge is to really focus on 10K rows. I lost some aerobic capacity while fighting off a cold from all of my December travels to drastically different climates. So far we have 19 teammates who have signed up for the January Challenge. I hope to provide a weekly summary each Saturday to monitor our progress and cheer everyone along. Please feel free to post your goal and strategy to accomplish it.

[jowings]

I need 150k to break 1m for the season and 2m lifetime. 200k would be a nice bonus, but I’m not sure I can get there again this month. I also set myself a goal of 15 hours for the January Revolutions challenge. Hopefully illness does derail me for a week like it did in this last challenge. With The family, it’s hard to get away for 10k rows, so I’m going to try to double up on 5k rows this time. It seemed to work well at the end of this past challenge.

[army padre]

Thanks for keeping us posted, Josh! We Texans are suffering with unseasonable cold weather at the moment (it won't be like this in Illinois next year, I'm sure). Congratulations on closing in on 1 million meters for the season and two million lifetime meters! I'm fortunate that the Army expects me to take between 6am and 7:30 each day to work out, so I can knock out 10K rows pretty easily (normally 46 to 48 minutes for me). Our challenge membership has grown to 26, and 19 have contributed meters on the first day. We are doing great! Keep up the awesome work!

[army padre]

Greetings, teammates! As promised I will update our Virtual Team Challenge meters for Saturday, 6 January. Overall we are in 27th place overall and we are 8th among teams with 21-50 members. Everyone is doing an outstanding job! Thus far we have 32 rowers signed up for the competition and 30 members have posted meters as of today. Here are the results:

John S. (my future Illinois neighbor) 102, 381! Absolutely amazing effort!!
Fred M. 68,817
The Oldest Chaplain in the US Army 67,397
Josh O. 55,935
Jim C. 50,000
Mark S. 45,000
David R. 40,000
Warren F. 31,254
Randy F. 30,000
Dan S. 29,000
George M. 27,918
Karen O. 27,000
Bel C. (our youngest rower at age 15!!) 25,427
Ray W. 24,633
John W. 24,517
Glenn Y. 21,644
Jim D. 20,026
Bill M. 19,755
Fred J. 19,012
David H. 16,576
Gabi H. 16,000
Bobbie Z. 14,750
Bob W. 10,000
Ken C. 9,089
Kristin C. 9,052
Adam M. 8,500
Kevin M. 6,521
Alan C. 5,078
Mark O. 4,000
Mary H. 1,210

Great job by everyone--especially those of you who are shoveling a lot of snow in addition to rowing! I promise to provide another update midweek, and I encourage you to use this forum to share your experiences. During the holiday season I gained too much weight eating Christmas cookies, so I am using this challenge to get back where I need to be. Until next time: stay safe in this winter weather and happy rowing!