New erg

DSC_5803 I didn't promise to cull all the boring rowing stuff off this blog, only the routine stuff. And obviously Anticipation of a new ergs arrival, The is far from routine. Let alone the actual arrival.

Here we see Darling Daughter pulling down firmly into her stomach in violation of all the best practices, but never mind, she is but young.

DSC_5800 It comes in a nice cardboard box, and isn't even especially large - foolishly, I got it delivered to home, which meant I got a phonecall in the middle of the day and had to rush off. Argh. I should just have got it sent to work - it would have fit easily into the car.

DSC_5801 It peeks shyly out of its case like a young maiden awiting her first love. With E's assistance I put it together in ~10 mins - you screw the front legs on, then clip the slidey-bar into the front unit (which looks to have been improved over the model C fixing). This is a model D - there seemed to be no obvious reason to pay the extra for the E. I'm not even sure the D is that much better than the C, except the rotor-unit seems a bit better. And it comes with a PM3 as standard - I didn't splash out on the PM4, but now wish I had, since PM3's won't talk to Garmin Ant+ heart rate belts. The handle is different to the C: more ergonomically shaped, perhaps. And of course this one is rather cleaner than any unit I've ever used before. Never mind: as Julia said, that won't last.

As to the rowing, it appears to work. 7101m for 30 mins, which is the second in my pyramid starting at 7000m. I'm not sure where the apex will be: probably 7500 for this round because I'm still hoping to actually get into the habit of enjoynig ergs rather than dreading them.

Perhaps this is a good place to point out all the exciting things you've missed on the other blog:

* Peterborough half marathon and my pathetic excuses for my rubbish time,
* The Robs Head,
* Rainy tuesday night on the river.

More like this

Joules. Ergs is so 1950s

[Ha. We were saying just that at lunch today. We thought it sounded too French. Plus "I'm just off Jouling" sounds weird. And JA might get worried, not to mention Jules herself -W]

Silly Stoat, James Joule was an English physicist and brewer. Didn;t row tho

[I didn't say he *was* French just that he *sounded* French ;-) -W]

For those who care or have neighbors that do, the big advantage of the D is that it is much quieter then the C. There is not much reason for an individual to get an E.

However, you should have waited for the model F:
http://tinyurl.com/24zonku

Now you can get slides, the C-Breeze, CorePerform, ShoxBox, rowbalance, ErgMonitor (plus a few more gizmos I can't remember the official names of).

I used to love my Erg, until I realized how it screws up my sculling stroke. Now I hardly use it (but we can row year round here--about 15C and calm on the Lake at 5 am this morning.).

[Model F looks exciting, if a little disconcerting. Never mind, they all have excellent second-hand value. I thought about the slides... maybe later -W]

How does the price compare to the one with the bolt-on wheels?
http://www.rowbike.com/

[About the same, I think. Of course, with the rowbike you wouldn't get the finely calibrated everywhere-comparable benefits of the C2. But I would be the envy of Cambrdige if I cycled to work on one -W]

Hank, I think in the UK you would be run over simply for offending sensibilities.
W. Has D^2 really got it wrong? Those of us that don't compete on them, use them for cardio and definition, and 'cos we like them, even if my left knee isn't so sure.

By Richard C (not verified) on 23 Oct 2010 #permalink

Won't help you run faster.

A PushmePullyou. I wouldn't want to be the guy at the back. And you are right, that contraption is just wrong.

By Richard C (not verified) on 23 Oct 2010 #permalink

All you energetic types (hint: rowers and runners... and former badminton players have already done so) might like to read some non-pseudoscience over at PZ's, if you haven't already done so.

Ouch!

[Thanks, that is good. The one below it is a bit worse -W]