There are sensible ways to mark a lifetime rowing milestone.
And then there’s putting a Concept2 Model A on slides, doing a 10k on it late at night, and using that to push through 35 million lifetime RowErg metres.
That was tonight’s plan.
Well, eventually.
The Model A itself has a bit of history.
Pamela spotted it on Facebook Marketplace before we flew out to Florida for a family holiday to Disney World. I contacted the seller from Ireland, explained we’d be arriving a couple of weeks later, and she very kindly agreed to hold it for me until we got there.
From the photos, I already knew it wasn’t going to be a pristine collector’s piece. The original seat was missing, with a flat wooden board fitted in its place, and it was obviously going to need a bit of work.
I’d even started planning how to dismantle it for collection.
Then we arrived, picked up our Jeep Wagoneer, and discovered the entire thing fitted in the back in one piece.
So much for that plan. 😆
Getting it home to Ireland was another matter, though, and eventually the Model A was broken down enough to travel back on the passenger flight as carry-on luggage.
Fast-forward to now and the same machine was sitting in the BigShed on a set of Concept2 slides.
Naturally.
A Little MacGyvering
Before the row, there were a few practical issues to sort out.
The monitor attachment needed a bit of improvisation.
The chain-to-handle connection needed some attention too.
And the Model A foot setup is obviously very different to a modern RowErg. The fixed wooden foot blocks meant I had to alter things slightly and, in the end, I went with
Once all that was sorted, I did a short warm-up to get a feel for it.
It definitely felt different.
Older, heavier, more mechanical.
And as for drag factor, well… unlike a modern erg, it’s not exactly a matter of moving a lever and choosing what you want.
You get what the machine gives you.
For the record, the PM5 showed DF 172.
That’s lively enough.
The 10k
Once I settled into the rhythm, though, it actually went pretty well.
10,000m — 39:49.5
1:59.5/500m average
205W average
26 spm average
The first couple of splits were deliberately a bit cautious while I worked out how the machine wanted to be rowed.
Then the pace gradually came down.
Splits
1,250m — 5:07.3 — 2:02.9
2,500m — 5:02.5 — 2:01.0
3,750m — 4:59.0 — 1:59.6
5,000m — 4:59.4 — 1:59.7
6,250m — 4:57.7 — 1:59.0
7,500m — 4:57.9 — 1:59.1
8,750m — 4:57.0 — 1:58.8
10,000m — 4:48.7 — 1:55.4
So it turned into a decent progression, and there was still enough there to finish strongly.
Considering the machine, the setup and the fact I was learning how it felt as I went, I’ll take that.
Another Late One
And yes, this was another late-night row.
By the time I was done, it was basically midnight.
That seems to be becoming a bit of a theme lately.
Work full-time, family first, then fit the rowing in where it fits.
Sometimes that means rowing when sensible people are already thinking about bed.
And, fittingly enough, I’m only actually getting this blog uploaded the following morning. Partly because it was late, and partly because the photos needed a bit of cleaning up before I could use them.
The BigShed is very much a working shed rather than a photography studio, so I tidied the backgrounds on a few of the Model A shots to get rid of some of the surrounding clutter. The machine itself in those images is mostly faithful to the original setup — Model A, slides, wooden foot blocks, PM5 arrangement, chain and all — but the pictures have been cleaned up a little for the blog.
Consider it the Model A after a quick virtual tidy of the shed. 😆
35 Million
The really nice part was what the 10k did to the lifetime total.
It pushed me through:
35,000,000 lifetime RowErg metres.
That’s one of those numbers that is easy to glance at and move on from, but when I actually stop and think about it, it represents a huge amount of time on an erg over the years.
Different machines.
Different sheds.
Different stages of life.
Fast stuff, slow stuff, races, training, comebacks, bad ideas, good ideas, and probably quite a few metres I’d rather forget.
And somehow this milestone arrived on an old Model A, riding on slides, with a PM5 attached by whatever means necessary, loose foot straps, wooden foot blocks and a bit of late-night stubbornness.
Quite fitting, really.
From a Facebook Marketplace advert in Florida...
to the back of a Jeep Wagoneer...
to a passenger flight back to Ireland...
to the BigShed...
to slides...
to a 10k...
and finally to:
35 million lifetime rowing metres.
Not a bad little journey for an old rowing machine.
And not a bad way to get there.
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