Online rowing, a proposal.

[at1839]

Disclaimers.

May be already discussed. Discard.
English in not my tongue. Be tolerant.

Facts. Looks like no-one is online when you need. If someone is online, looks like no-one likes to row your distance. In the infrequent occurrence you luckily find a session, or if you’re brave and put on yours, no-one rows at your pace so you end up rowing alone, anyway.

Solution. Put on a 24/24, 365 days year, free distance and free pace *just row* session.
The base idea would be *to get rid* of 2k, 5k, 30’, half marathon ... etc. Cannot rank? Then? This is mostly training, not a TT. Are you online for a TT, for real? Select a traditional row, and enjoy.

Open your browser and get a list of actually rowing characters, maybe some are robots, who care. Select one. You may want to select a slow one, you may want to select a fast one, nobody care of your split and maybe you enjoy to be deadly overtaken. The software will take care of filling in lanes to your left and right with close to you people, in term of pace.

Now row. You’re free to leave the row when you want. Software should add the workout to your log. Repeat. Enter the lake in a different position. Row ...

Unaffordable? Too complex for today’s internet? Don’t think so, do you? Online gaming does it, rowing should, too. It’s just a scenery, on the end.

Cu. Paolo

[Carl Watts]

Online rowing is great because you row with actual people.

What you find is a set time is much better than a set distance because you all start and finish together so it removes the problem of someone coming last.

The "Just Row" thing just shows you have no structure in your training. Yes it gets used by just about everyone at the gym and elsewhere because just about every PM3 I service has zero lifetime meters on it.

The problem with online rowing currently is it simply has not hit critical mass with the numbers of people interested in doing it. Once you get the numbers it gets the variation and in theory you should be able to login 24/7 and find something or someone else to join.

I was told recently the total number of indoor rowers that Concept 2 make each year and the numbers are staggering. Even if only 1% of the new rowers owners took up Online rowing we would be swapped with people online. If you thought about the total number of Ergs out there worldwide then about 0.0001% of users are regular online rowers.

The big question is really why people don't like to row with other people. Perhaps if you could find the answer to this it would solve all the problems. To date one problem has been the hardware. The PM monitor was way too slow to get Bluetooth and Digital Rowing should have skipped the Mac version and developed the iOS and Android version of RowPro "Lite" for mobile devices. Just cutout all the training and data stuff and just had a direct online App where you have to row online, even if you make the row "Private" so your the only one rowing. RowPro already has the feature where you can add or remove who you want from a row you setup. There are no logical reasons why you cannot do all your rowing online, I row every meter online.

[kdahlhaus]

DynRow is evolving along those lines - https://github.com/monsdar/dynrow

When doing intervals, you can row against yourself in previous intervals.

There are also some robot boats designed to keep you challenged.

It's a free program