Any benefits to super low drag factor?

[hjs]

I really disagree with this.

I think it all depends on the definition of the word "close". I agree that a difference of 5 or 10 in drag factor can make a difference, especially when you are rowing to a prescribed rate. But I think you can take it too far by making sure it is exactly 131 for all sessions or something.

The main thing to me is to use drag factor instead of just looking at where the damper is since it can vary so much depending on when the erg was last cleaned.

That's what I was getting at. Folks getting anal and micro adjusting the lever to get 131 is pointless. Having it somewhere between 110 and 120 works for me.

In the first periode I erged, years... Ago, I did not know of drag, just lever setting, do at races
I just put the lever sowhere. Never had any problems.

Mostly, old unfit farts, like us, go on and over drag, technique, spm. Erging is simple, be fit, be strong, have on ok form and pull the machine apart. A fast rower is fast on any drag. A slow one vice versa.

[lindsayh]

In the first periode I erged, years... Ago, I did not know of drag, just lever setting, do at races
I just put the lever sowhere. Never had any problems.
Mostly, old unfit farts, like us, go on and over drag, technique, spm. Erging is simple, be fit, be strong, have on ok form and pull the machine apart. A fast rower is fast on any drag. A slow one vice versa.

I agree Henry - IMO the DF is a very minor part of what we have to do and I have never really taken much notice of it even at races. Just find a number that suits I reckon and stay close to it depending on what you are doing. For me its 130-160 mostly (and a bit higher for the real sprints) and I don't think it actually makes much difference at all where I am in that range.

[Bob S.]

I can't resist getting in on this one. I was blissfully unaware of drag for about the first 15 years that I used an erg. The original PM did not have it and I just used the middle of the damper setting of the Model Bs that I was using then. Even after I acquired a PM3 for my own Model B, I didn't catch on to the fact that I could have the DF displayed on it. The only thing I noticed was that when the Cs (and later the Ds) came out and I had to use them in competitions, they did not feel right compared to my own B and the Bs at the club. Eventually I found out about DF and realized that it was responsible for the different feel. The DF on the Bs was far higher than on the later models. It took a while to get used to it, but now I figure that I would probably not be happy using a B again.

Bob S.

[Hillclimber]

Jim,
any conclusions from the responses re "very low df"? have you been experimenting? i recall from some other thread that you (were/are/had) not been a fan of low rating (18-20-22). any new thoughts there?
damien

[DanielJ]

Having done lots of low-spm stuff lately as part of the Wolverine Plan -- Level 4 involves one-, two-, three- and four-minute sections at different ratings, so there's lots of switching -- I've found that I'm totally happy using the same DF regardless of the work I'm doing. I think my machine is set to a DF of about 110, and I'm happy using that all over the board.

Mind you, it's 8x500m time tomorrow, so I might nudge the lever up a bit for that and see how it goes.