Concept2 Forum

I have been very surprised at how few posts there have been on the forum since it was sabotaged several months ago. Maybe it has something to do with the nicer weather and people spending less time on the computer. We got our rower in early Nov and I've been rowing away to my first million - only 547,000 more meters to go!!
Initially I joined the ducks and then this winter I left the pond and joined the new team Grams organized called Divas for women over age 60. It sounded like a fun challenge to go against the younger ducks as well as all the other teams. I have, however, been very disappointed that no one else has joined the team. Hopefully, as anyone 60+ gets into rowing this new season, you will consider coming on board to help move this team up the rankings. The virtual teams are a good motivation to keep up or increase your meters.

Carol
Loony Lady and member of Divas

I seriously considered the Divas, being in my Sunset Boulevard years, but I'm brand new and heavy and lousy at this. Y'all seem proish and experienced. I figured I'd just drag your times down

Hi Sasha,
No one is too slow for the team. In fact the more, the merrier. I just got my rower last fall and I needed all the motivation I could get to keep up the rowing. I've taken part in some of the challenges and joined the virtual team. It all makes the rowing more fun.
Anyhow, it is never too late to join and we would certainly love to have you. As you can see, it is a very small team at the moment! Come join in.

Carol
Loonylady

Sasha wrote:I seriously considered the Divas, being in my Sunset Boulevard years, but I'm brand new and heavy and lousy at this. Y'all seem proish and experienced. I figured I'd just drag your times down

Xeno Mueller's Iron Oarsmen team seems to pick up all the "teamless" stragglers. He's just looking to maximise the metres rowed rather than the metres per member. So the rank amateur can join the Olympic champ's team.

Citroen wrote: Xeno Mueller's Iron Oarsmen team seems to pick up all the "teamless" stragglers. He's just looking to maximise the metres rowed rather than the metres per member. So the rank amateur can join the Olympic champ's team.

Another way to go is to form your own one member team. I did that for the January challenge and my team, facetiously named "the Owens Lake Yacht Club" after a notorious local dust pollution source, was in second place for meters (O.K - metres, but this is the U.S. Forum) per member. Then the first place team, another one person team, disappeared from the listing and there was little old OLYC in first place just barely ahead of the Ancient Mariners.

Bob S.

Citroen--Tue May 09, 2006 6:41 am pacific time wrote:Xeno Mueller's Iron Oarsmen team seems to pick up all the "teamless" stragglers. He's just looking to maximise the metres rowed rather than the metres per member. So the rank amateur can join the Olympic champ's team.

Emphasis added.

I'm not sure I would have said "just", but you're right about the focus on the total team meters instead of the meters per member. It's to encourage rowing and participation, and for me at least, it's worked.

It gives team members a lot of things to look at. For instance my first time on a rowing machine was March 26, 2005. From the beginning, I was "helping"...and there's no way to "hurt the team," and as long as you keep on and keep logging, you continue to help. You can look at the people above you. I was very excited when I was finally able to to be on the up-side of the average so that I was pulling the average up instead of down. I'm told that a child-member was really excited when he passed an adult. I think it's been a very positive experience all around.

Alissa

Alissa put it much better than I did - "It's to encourage rowing and participation." And as I said in my earlier post, it worked for me as well. There is no such thing as being too slow or rowing too little. Most of the teams count total meters rowed so any meters added, help the whole team. But more important is the fact that you rowed that day no matter how many meters it is. The bottom line for most all of us is to improve our health through exercise and every motivation we can get helps.

Carol
Loonylady

Alissa wrote:I'm not sure I would have said "just", but you're right about the focus on the total team meters instead of the meters per member. It's to encourage rowing and participation, and for me at least, it's worked.

It wasn't meant in any negative sense - Xeno does lots of excellent work to promote and develop indoor rowing. There are some teams where their aim is to get max metres per member (I did over 3,000,000 last season). All teams are there to encourage rowing and participation.

The other thing that seems to be motivating indoor rowers is the Cross Team Challenge (http://www.c2ctc.com). This month the challenge is a 5K unrestricted. Anyone can join that challenge - if you don't have a team register as an independent (default password is c2ctc). There are no restrictions on who can join, there are no pre-defined times that need to be achieved - it's just row your own 5K, register your time then look to see where you come amongst the other rowers. Then row it again to improve your position (as many times as you like during the month). Once you've been in the CTC for a few months you'll know who you're competing against and, perhaps, you can strive to beat their times. We've had 145 folks take part so far (10 days in) and would like to see 300 folks attempt the CTC before the end of the month.

Sasha wrote:I seriously considered the Divas, being in my Sunset Boulevard years, but I'm brand new and heavy and lousy at this. Y'all seem proish and experienced. I figured I'd just drag your times down

Last year I said "Most old lady ergers start off with a triple handicap. They are out of shape and they lack the confidence to try a 'manly' sport. And there is a lot of society pressure to stay young, so they are also competing against younger women. Hand-holding is an important part of the group. Right now thats what I need. I'm working on several health issues and got so depressed that I couldn't face erging any more. Even though I have to step over the darn thing all the time to walk around in my office. So I gained 8 pounds and don't have any energy. I even stopped reading forum posts until today.

The last thing I wanted Divas to become is an exclusive group. I assume that there are many older 'lurkers' who would like to give each other support and encouragement. We may or may not end up with a fast time or millions of meters but we will be healthier for sure.

Some sections of the forum have been too competitive recently, so to give myself a better perspective on life I'm going back to the New Years resolutions our January Challenge team NATE (Its Not About the Erg):

RESOLUTIONS:
reinforce each other to get on the erg
spend time with our families
enjoy having buddies to count on in a rough spot
cut down on swearing
blow off stress
concentrate on technique
most of all, help each other out!!!

MY PRIORITIES:
1. My health ( if you don't have this, you don't have the energy to move on down this list. So, erg sessions go here)
2. My family and friends
3. Everything else.

Enough baring my soul-do any of you folks have suggestions for Divas

combine with DIAR?
expand to include 60 and over guys?
Expand to include 50 and over ladies?
Other?

Sounds like you've had a tough road lately, Grams, and hopefully it will help to be back on the forum. We all want to support and encourage you. Maybe you could try just very short rows for a while rather than setting big goals. Just 500 meters a day would be a start and gradually increase that just to reduce some of the frustrations and help you feel a bit more energy.

As for Divas, I'm not sure the best road to follow. I think the idea of an "older" women's team is great and had even considered starting one myself so I was very happy when you started the team. Maybe lowering the age to 50 would allow others to join us. I personally think it is a good idea to keep it just women since the men already have some teams of their own.

Maybe we could start a thread in the women's forum called Divas, and once again invite people to join us. Once the year gets going it doesn't seem like people want to change teams so this is a good time to remind them about the team. The thread would also point out the team to those new rowers as they read the forum.

Hang in there, Grams.

Carol
Loonylady

So I had my stress test today and I am in great shape. Its my blood pressure medicine that is causing me all the problems. What an easy fix! I will be in great shape for the next 2 vacations coming soon. Not to mention the 40 yo stepson moving back in for the summer...

I don't have any excuses now not to row. And I feel 10 years younger (the stress level is way down) so I am ready to climb back into the boat and invite all you young whippersnappers in too.

I will ask C2 to change the Divas description to 50s and over, and start a Divas thread, just in time for Mothers Day.

grams

I'm so glad you were able to resolve your problem so easily! Sounds like you're in great shape and I see you already rowed a very long way! My husband does the long rows but I can't seem to go that far in one day. I'm still working away on my first million. I should make the half way point in the next couple of days. Good to see you back on the erg

Carol
Loonylady