/\ October \/ Row the Nile Challenge

At 6695 km, the Nile River is the longest river in the world; we're rowing its length, from its origin in Burundi to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt.  All rowing distances are acceptable, including rowing done on indoor ergs and in outdoor shells.

The overall challenge of rowing the Nile is divided into monthly sub-challenges.  Each month's sub-challenge will begin on the first of the month and end on the last day of the month, but you're welcome to join at any time.

Post your desired monthly sub-challenge distance, then post all distances rowed at any time.  While you're at it, post how your sessions went.  We can all encourage each other to meet our goals.  All distances rowed, by everyone, will be added together and will count towards the overall goal.

Everyone is welcome to join.  If you've rowed with us before, welcome back, the Nile is a very long river, we could use your muscle power.

There are many forms of exercise in the world, but few as complete as rowing. If you have a rower at home collecting dust, then this is a chance to use it for more than a clothes hanger.  If you're an outdoor rower, welcome. If you've always walked by those rowers at the gym, then this is a chance to give them a try.

October Challenges

the_oarsman - Goal: 50 km - Rowed: 11 km

maxx86 - Rowed: 6 km

mg4820 - Goal: 30 km - Rowed: 8.7 km

Active Members

the_oarsman - Total Rowed: 287 km

maxx86 - Total Rowed: 97 km

mg4820 - Total Rowed: 38 km

Retired Members

We encourage you to come out of retirement at any time.

miss_bea - Total Rowed: 52 km

tigerkno - Total Rowed: 98 km

ernst31 - Total Rowed: 12 km

apophenia - Total Rowed: 30 km

lindsayadelia - Total Rowed: 56 km

cybersam - Total Rowed: 52 km

Rowing the Nile Challenge

Start Date: June 2009

Total distance, to date, by all rowers (not including this month): 723 km

Distance of Nile River: 6695 km

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What's all this about rowing, anyway?

Most rowing machines (known as ergometers, or ergs) will have a display on which you will see various numbers, including the total time and distance, usually in meters or kilometers.

If it's your first time, go slow!  It takes time to build the necessary muscles for any new exercise.  That's especially true for rowing.  Try a few minutes at first, and then add a few minutes every few days.  Before you know it, you'll be rowing for many kilometers at a time.

Technique is important!  I have some information on my profile, as well as some animation that shows proper technique.  First timers, there's no need to rush or to push yourself too much.  This can be a lifelong pursuit if you build up slowly.

oK, sounds like a goal. I will be on water in the am and also need to do my ranking piece for C2   hope they have a rank low enought for my time. I just need to establish a base to start from.  Do most of you ERG or row on water?

Original Post by follyhox:

oK, sounds like a goal. I will be on water in the am and also need to do my ranking piece for C2   hope they have a rank low enought for my time. I just need to establish a base to start from.  Do most of you ERG or row on water?

Most of us are indoors.  You'll find that some of the CC rowing crew have been a little scarce here.  We're in a bit of a drop in participation; some with injuries, others just taking it a little slowly.  Hopefully you'll be able to inject some energy back into the group.

Let us know how your water-rowing goes.  I just moved to a new place and there is a rowing club very near to me.  I'm going to look at joining them after this winter.  The river here in NY is spectacular; I can imagine that rowing in the early morning will be wonderful.

I rowed 3k at some point last week. That makes 6k for October

Apparently fall is not my season.

Hopefully I'll get my act together this month!

Where's the November challenge?!

3k yesterday.  I tried out a new strategy for fighting boredom, redundancy, blisters, and shin splits.  Zippy sits right next to the miniature track (18 laps to a mile), and since I get bored erging these days I decided to break it up with a few laps between each 1k.  So this is what I did: run, erg, run, erg, run, erg, run totalling 3k and 1 mile.  1k is much more manageable, and not running a lot at once helps my shin splints.  I did this after lifting and before the rest of my cardio...and it actually worked quite well.

I also find this tactic intimidates those around me. bwahahaha

In other news, I'm on the hunt for a fun sticker because some prankster got all crazy with the label maker and now ALL the cardio machines have names.  Zippy is no longer unique (although still has the only fitting name; imo "Cher" is not a fitting name for an elliptical) and something must be done!

Oops...bad Oarsman, bad Oarsman.  I've been swamped at work and have had very little time to do anything else that's actually useful.

Okay, I've posted the November challenge

Great idea with the cross-training maxx.  I wish that I could still run, but those days are over for me.

Let's see if this month can be an improvement.

Row on everyone!