FLAT 100 km (62 mile) ride from Garforth, Saturday 19th September, 2026

[Sea of vapours]

Let's see how fit I am next spring...

It'll be your opportunity to drag yourself up Great Dun Fell, with all that rowing fitness :-)

 

[ColinJ]

It'll be your opportunity to drag yourself up Great Dun Fell, with all that rowing fitness :-)

I definitely need to work on my upper body for that one, which rowing should help with.

I used to do the long Tudons climb on the Costa Blanca from the south. My legs, heart, and lungs coped with it but my back would slowly give way under the strain. I would have to keep dismounting to stretch. My upper body has got worse since then, rather than better!

I have therefore had second thoughts about trying to do GDF then riding home the same day. A more realistic approach might be to book a room in Appleby-in-Westmorland, travel up and do a warmup ride then the climb on day #1, stop over, ride home on day #2.

 

[Sea of vapours]

That does sound a sensible approach. The offer is still open for me to accompany you up and open the usually-closed gate, if you do get yourself up there. Of course, the opening of the gate would otherwise be a possibly welcome, short break !

 

[Dadam]

Yikes - they typically go for £400-600 now. New ones are close to £1,000!

As you can see, I have plenty of space in my attic bedroom to leave it permanently set up. Now, I just have to get into the habit of using it!

Let's see how fit I am next spring...

Hmm I might be getting mixed up. I bought it around 2002 at a Cash Converters for around £150. At the time I was using rowers in the gym a fair bit. So I think the gym machines were Concept but I'm pretty sure the one I had was like this https://www.gumtree.com/p/rowing-machines/v-fit-rower-machine/1802800194

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm I might be getting mixed up. I bought it around 2002 at a Cash Converters for around £150. At the time I was using rowers in the gym a fair bit. So I think the gym machines were Concept but I'm pretty sure the one I had was like this https://www.gumtree.com/p/rowing-machines/v-fit-rower-machine/1802800194

Concept2s are to rowing machines what brands like Pinarello and Colnago are to road bikes! There are other brands/machines which are much cheaper and are still very good, but the 'best' are just a bit better.

My family and I just bought a new Merach R50 Pro rower for the family gym down there. It is a Concept2 clone and is very similar to row on, but the head unit isn't as good. They wanted a good new machine with a warranty and were not bothered by readout errors**. I wanted proven reliability, availability of spares, and accurate data, so I went for the reconditioned Concept2. They were about the same price.



** I saw one Merach review video where a supposed 2 minute row actually lasted 2 minutes 7 seconds. That is a 5.8% error on a fundamental measurement, so I wouldn't trust harder to measure data such as calculated speed!

 

[ColinJ]

@colly - sorry, I am going to postpone the ride!

I feel like I might be coming down with a cold. Nothing too bad at the moment, but my heart rate is up and I have a sore throat and feel listless.

If we had a lovely warm sunny day lined up, I would probably take a chance on it, but it looks like Saturday will probably be a mix of sunshine and showers, windy, and not terribly warm. Not what I fancy for 6 hours when not feeling 100%!

It will be moved to another Saturday that you can do, and preferably one that @Dadam, @Pennine-Paul, and others (?) can join us on.

And now, the 'Sorry, is this really a thread about indoor rowing?' update:

As for the rowing machine... I rowed 2,000 virtual metres on it this evening. That was enough to tell me that something isn't quite right healthwise! I quickly backed off my effort and did it fairly conservatively.

I had read that a time of 9-12 minutes would be reasonable for a beginner. I had faffed about for the first 2 or 3 minutes and then settled into a rhythm. My time was just over 9.5 minutes. I was happy with that for a first go. I reckon that I would do it in just under 9 minutes on a second attempt when feeling healthy.

The good news: I think my beginner's technique was fairly reasonable (but I will video myself next time, to check). I enjoyed it. I think that it will be a good addition to cycling.

The (potentially) bad news: 9.5 minutes of rowing was enough to cause minor discomfort in the clot-damaged vein in my left thigh/groin area. For obvious reasons, that is something that concerns me! I don't experience much of that when cycling or walking, but those activities don't involve the deep bend of the leg. I just did a quick search online and found references to this problem. I will have to do more research. It might be that better technique or perhaps limiting the rowing stroke length could help?

 

[colly]

No problem Colin. I just looked at the forecast and if its correct the first hour or so we would be getting wet.
If it turns out nice I may do some or all of it anyway.

Or not.

 

[ColinJ]

It might be that better technique or perhaps limiting the rowing stroke length could help?

I nipped back up to the attic and checked a few things...

I don't think that it is a sensible idea for me to try to do full-range strokes. Once my knees bend to more than (say) 100 degrees, I can feel the discomfort building. If I don't slide the seat quite so far forward for the 'catch', it reduces the strain on my bad leg. That reduces the amount of work that my legs do each stroke but I am never going to compete and my legs get plenty of exercise through cycling and walking so that is no big deal; the upper body benefits would still be there.

I saw a good tip: Decide how far forward the seat is to go and put a strip of duct tape across the rowing track just beyond that. If the seat then goes beyond that point, the front roller under the seat would roll up over the tape and act as a reminder not to do that. I will have another row tomorrow (if not feeling rougher than today!) and see if the discomfort is reduced/eliminated, and also how much the reduced length of stroke slows me down.

Fingers crossed!

 

[PaulSB]

If you're concerned about the impact of rowing on your blood clot veins I'd suggest looking at other options. A rowing machine doesn't strike me as great value to a cyclist.

I don't know anything about the benefits of rowing other than a quick read which suggests it targets general upper body. There are numerous body weight and weighted routines you could use at home. These can target specific cycling related areas and the core. If you can join a local authority gym, usually £20 - £25 per month, that would open up even more possibilities.

 

[ColinJ]

If you're concerned about the impact of rowing on your blood clot veins I'd suggest looking at other options.

Having spent well over £550 to start rowing again, I would rather not give up after just 9.5 minutes!

I remembered today that I did actually experience a similar problem a couple of times when riding a bike that I had borrowed from my cousin on a holiday in Scotland. I don't get it riding my bikes so it must have been due to a subtly different riding position and/or saddle shape.

I also suffer it when sitting at a desk or table so I think that there must be a very particular bit of damaged vein that I have to be careful with.

I had a very quick row again this afternoon but was more careful how I sat on the seat. I also didn't slide forward to quite such an extreme leg bend, and didn't push quite as hard with my legs. Those changes did make an improvement in comfort.
I am still feeling a bit rough today so I don't feel up to doing a proper rowing test yet. Hopefully, these compromises will allow me to use the rowing machine without too many problems. We'll see.

A rowing machine doesn't strike me as great value to a cyclist.

I don't know anything about the benefits of rowing other than a quick read which suggests it targets general upper body

It actually targets the legs about 50% more than the upper body! Still, the upper body gets a good workout too, which is what I want.

I always used to enjoy the Concept 2s that I used a few decades ago so it isn't only fitness that I am looking for. I would like to push myself to beat my own PBs at 500, 2,000 and 5,000 metres. Maybe longer distances if I really got into rowing.

There are numerous body weight and weighted routines you could use at home. These can target specific cycling related areas and the core.

Yes, I am definitely going to do more of this kind of thing.

I have a chin/dip station which I haven't used for years. I used to be able to fire off 20-25 pull ups or dips in quick succession but now I can't even manage 1!! That is something that I hope to rectify.

I noticed that Aldi has some fairly light slam balls in. I might nip down there shortly and buy one of them. If I find that I like chucking 6 kg about, I might buy a heavier one in the future.

I have some lightweight kettlebells (7.5 and 12 kg). I like them. Once I can manage those okay I will buy some heavier ones.

If you can join a local authority gym, usually £20 - £25 per month, that would open up even more possibilities.

I don't really enjoy the public gym environment but I noticed that there are a few simple outdoor gym machines in the local park which I will go and check out.