To Row Or Not To Row

This past weekend was to be all about rowing and nothing but rowing. My weekend schedule was something like this: Friday row a Quad with three people I've never rowed a Quad with before. Plus I would be in the bow seat and responsible for steering. This was to be a practice to get ready for a Sunday row/race. Saturday regular practice from 700 to 900 and then row with our adult rowing camp members from 930 to 1130. Row to Occoquan Forest picnic, demonstrate rowing and take interested residents for a row and then row back to boathouse. Start at 230 and return around 530. On Sunday race the Quad a distance of about 9 miles starting at 800. Finally host our final Learn to Row Day for my club from 100 to 300. Definitely a full weekend of rowing, which wasn't sitting too well with Ann. How did it turn out? Friday's practice in the Quad was cancelled due to heavy rain and high water levels on the Occoquan. The Saturday rows were held although there was much debris out on the water. As part of the final row with the adult camp rowers, which we call Raw Knucks, we held a mini regatta for them. Technically I didn't row but coxed one of the boats. My boat finished third on points out of a total of five boats. Not bad considering we had only one experienced rower in the boat while the others had at least two experienced rowers and others had even more. Everyone seemed happy with the regatta and about sixteen of them will join the club. So good for them and good for the club. The row to Occoquan Forest was cancelled due to the amount of debris in the water. We can't afford to damage any boats by hitting large logs floating on the reservoir. The same thing for the Sunday morning row/race. Too much debris and too much risk to the boats. These boats are fiberglass and thin fiberglass at that as they try to make them as light as possible and therefore easily damage and expensive to repair. Our final Learn to Row Day was held, but frankly I forgot about it (I hadn't plan to attend originally due to all the other rowing scheduled for the weekend) and didn't go. Apparently it was well attend with 43 people showing up. The main focus was for attracting rowers for the high school rowing camp we run in the summer, but some adults showed up as well. We'll see if any join up. So not so much rowing as planned.

Since I didn't row Sunday morning, I did go for a bike ride on the W&OD Trail. The weather this weekend was unbelievably nice and Sunday the best. Sunny and warm - perfect. I did the ride from Rt 28 out to Leesburg and back - 20 miles total. The trail was not very crowded, which was a bit of a surprise given how nice a day it was. The ride felt really good. Good speed throughout although I still suck at climbs. Hopefully that will come. I did the ride and was back at home by 1130. Just in time to shower and then run out for groceries and pick up some lunch (Italian Sub). The rest of the day was spent just lounging around out on the deck reading or napping. It doesn't get much better than that.