Winter is Coming

Tonight I was walking across town and noticed that the wind was really bringing in the cold. The past few days have been getting colder and colder and there is something thrilling as the world around me is starting to draw towards winter. All the leaves are gone off of the trees and there is something really pretty about them when they are like this. Also, I have a much better appreciation for scary movies, since at night, everything looks frightening through the clutches of tree limbs.

The other aspect of the cold is that Thanksgiving is approaching. For all of my life I celebrated the holiday in Southern California and there were a few holidays I remember being outside and wearing shorts. Such a stark contrast to the need to put layer upon layer here, just to go outside. But Thanksgiving goes hand in hand with the cold: being inside with friends and family, celebrating a great meal as the weather outside continually gets colder and trudges on towards shorter days.

To all of my friends and family, have a happy Thanksgiving this Thursday!

Earn Your Bread

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the home of one of the rowers I live with. I was excited because his family has a house outside of the city and they live in a very rural area. It's somewhat hard to say exactly where he lives, because when I asked him the name of the village, he sort of paused and said "Well, I guess we are in the area that falls under Wyrza . . . oh and that stream right there is called the Orla, so I guess we are in Wyrza nad Orla." To give you a better idea of the isolation of this place, we drove out of Bydgoszcz some 40 minutes and then while we were driving down the highway, we suddenly turned off onto a dirt road that just went straight off into the distance not towards anything in sight. But after about 20 more minutes, we came to his house, which stood by itself on a large expanse of land, next to a stream and a pond behind.

We came at night so I didn't have a great chance to explore everything, nor did I the next day. We both woke up early and went to help his dad who builds houses. We drove out to the site and I spent the day lifting building materials and handing them to the contractor. Highlights of the day were definitely the two coffee breaks and coming home where my friend's mother had made us a huge spread of food which the three of us very quickly consumed. Oh and of course for the job my friend's dad gave me some sweet construction work clothes: I got to rock a sweet pair of overalls. But mostly I enjoyed the day because I got to be outside. Part of the reason I came to Poland is because I wanted to experience cold weather, and although it will be getting colder, it was just above freezing that day and despite that, I stayed warm. Of course, stopping for those coffee breaks did help to warm me up!

The next day didn't offer me much rest either: my friend's older sister raises and trains horses, and my visit happened to be during the time of the week where the stables are cleaned. Or shall I say, when I got to clean the stables. Despite the hard work and awful smell, it was a great experience. Following the cleaning, I got to completely brush and clean one of the horses, and it was great being that close to the animal. I even got to saddle up and do a little riding. And of course, Polish hospitality was again served in the form of a great spread that night for dinner.

The weekend I spent in Wyrza nad Orla was one of the best I have had here in Poland. I got to do a little work and see the beautiful country-side. The trees and landscape were beautiful, and I really enjoyed seeing the horses and being able to go up and be close to them. The trees here are really beautiful, and most of the trees were turning color, if not already shedding their leaves. I am really enjoying watching the weather as it changes from one season to the next.

Running at Night

For our afternoon practice yesterday we went on a run. There are a few elements that make this noteworthy, at least for me. First of all, since this is the only form of our training now that consists of us going outside (we erg and lift weights indoors), we have to dress properly. I don’t think I have ever worn so much spandex before at one time. With the addition of a cap, the only part of my body exposed to the cold are my hands and my face, which with the combination of the sleek spandex, makes me feel somewhat like a ninja.

The other elements that make the run so enjoyable is that we run in a park which is on the top of a hill somewhat near our boathouse. Now that the cold has arrived and all of the trees have lost their leaves, we can see the city of Bydgoszcz below as we run our laps. But the view is enhanced by the fact that the sun has been setting around 4 p.m., thus making it completely dark by 4:30. So our run that starts at 4 goes through some changes in light until we are running completely in the dark, not really knowing what is lying ahead of us and only having a decent idea of where the path lies (by park I mean an area that is void of any building developments with a dirt path etched along stretches by people who go on walks or runs). We can see the city lights below us coming through the trees and there is an occasional lamp that is somewhat close enough that illuminates part of our path.

There is something great about running in the cold and the dark, and just listening to literally nothing but your footsteps as you fly over the ground that is unseen below you. It reminds me somewhat of running the UCLA perimeter at night during final's week of Fall quarter. We usually did not meet for formal, organized practices and were left to our own devices to train. I usually ran the perimeter at night and this run reminds me of that. Especially running along Veteran Ave, since that part of the perimeter is not well lit at all and you have to stumble your way along to find the path. Also, I would sometimes cut through campus and run between Royce and Powell, and I always enjoyed the yellow glow of the lights that illuminated the campus. It made it look very regal. To those of you at UCLA training now, enjoy the runs and know that wherever you go after, you will look back at those times.

(photo taken with some light still left in the day, so it’s even darker by the time we finish our run)

World Coastal Rowing Championships for Clubs

Two weeks after Poznan, I competed in the World Coastal Rowing Championships for Clubs held in Plymouth, England. The event was hosted by the Mayflower Offshore Rowing Club and was attended by some 500 athletes representing 22 different nations.

Coastal rowing is different from regular rowing in that in place of calm, still water, we were rowing out in the ocean and in waves. There are three boat classes: quad with coxswain (the boat I was racing), double and single. The boats themselves are about three times as wide as an eight-oared shell, thus providing a bit of stability in the waves. Also, the bow is very tall, to better cut through the waves, and the stern is open to allow water that has come into the boat to flow out the back as we row forward. There is also an on-board water pump which is connected to all of the foot-wells. These are all very necessary characteristics as there was a lot of water. When we were sitting at the finish with our legs flat, they were literally underwater because there was so much water in the boat.

We practiced on Thursday (October 22) giving me my first coastal rowing experience. When we rowed out past the breakwater, we were literally rowing “uphill”. When we were in the troughs between waves, we couldn’t see the land, nor anything else other than walls of water. But we got the idea of the waves and raced in the heat on Friday. 15 boats started in an 8 kilometer race with 12 advancing to the final. We finished 5^th after a somewhat leisurely finish; the boats were strung out along such a great distance we weren’t worried about anyone catching us. The next day, weather conditions and extreme winds forced race organizers to shorten the course to a 5K distance. When we started in the 24 boat final, a wave broke on my back and knocked our stroke seat off of his seat. The rest of the race was just a battle through walls of water. As we came over the top of a wave, the boat would suddenly drop from underneath us and our butts would come off the seats. It was like being on a roller coaster, a somewhat cold one! We finished 7^th overall, which wasn’t bad as there is definitely a technique to rowing in the waves, something to which none of us were accustomed to.

Following the Saturday final, we were not leaving Plymouth until Tuesday morning, so we had two days to explore and be tourists. On Sunday I decided to visit Mt. Edgecombe, a historical house whose lands have been kept open to the public to enjoy. There were gardens, a small labyrinth and a vast expanse of just green pastures and forests. My group and I climbed a hill from which we could see the racecourse where we raced the day before and had a picnic. It was very enjoyable. Monday was raining so we just visited some local shops. It was a great trip!

(First photo: view of the course from Mt. Edgecombe. That is a large Military supply vessel in the middle of the bay)

(Second photo: our quad launching for practice. I am sitting 2 seat in the white hat. Also please notice the life jackets)

Click here to view the World Coastal Rowing Page (includes photos from the regatta).

Click here to view a website about Mt. Edgecombe.

Poznan

Poznan is a city about two hours drive south of Bydgoszcz. I was there two and a half weeks ago (the weekend of October 17-18) racing in a pair. Over the course of two days, I raced four times over the 2k distance: a heat Saturday morning followed by a final in the afternoon. Both Sunday races were finals. The format of the regatta was three heats of six with the first place finisher from each advancing directly to the final. Besides that, five additional boats would be selected by best time overall from all of the heats and then placed into an eight boat final, held later that same day. Following that final, the top six finishers stayed in the “A” final as the last two boats were dropped into the “B” final and the top two finishers from the “B” final were added to the “A”, thus maintaining the eight boat final format.

I was racing in a pair, which is a two person boat propelled by long oars, one held by each rower (as opposed to a double in which each rower has two oars). I was stroking and since there is no coxswain I steered with my foot (a cable connects a moveable shoe to the rudder, thus allowing me to steer with side to side movements of my right foot). We finished third in our heat and had the third best time overall from all of the heats, thus advancing my partner and I to the “A” final. We then finished 4th in the first final and 5th in both the second and third final. However, the great thing is that our club entered four pairs and all four pairs stayed in all three “A” finals.

But my favorite part about racing in Poznan was the racecourse. In Poland, Poznan is called the city of rowing, and it is because the race course is more or less in the center of the city and it is a world class course, which is not meant as a compliment but a distinction: it is certified by the international governing body of rowing (FISA) to host international regattas. And it really is so. When I first got to the course, I was intimidated. Staring at you from the dock is a large and somewhat ominous finish line tower standing at the end of bleachers several stories tall that run for the last 300 meters of the course. The lanes are well marked as are all of the 500 and 250 meter intervals. But my two favorite parts of the course are firstly the “pac-man’s” behind the start line and secondly the finish line. The pac-man’s are these large yellow circles with a triangle cut out (resembling pac-man) with their mouths facing up towards the sky. Behind each of them is a large yellow triangle that fits into each pac-man’s mouth. The purpose of this is that when you are rowing a blind boat (meaning a boat without a coxswain) the person steering needs only to line up the mouth and the triangle to be on course for a straight line down the 2k distance. This made steering for me a lot easier. As for the finish line, it was a literal line of bubbles across the span of the eight lane course, something found only on world class courses.

The other thing that made racing at Poznan special was that less than two months ago, the 2009 World Rowing Championships were held there and I could still feel all of the energy from that regatta. Even the flags from all of the countries from around the world were still flying on the flagpoles.

First Snow

So I know I am supposed to be going in order of my races, which means that this post should be about my races in Poznan. However, it is snowing outside and as the first snow of the season in Bydgoszcz, I feel I should mark the occasion.

Now coming from southern California, this is a big deal for me. Sure I have been to the mountains and hiked in the snow and have gone skiing. But now I am going to be living an everyday normal life surrounded by snow and all the cold that comes with it.

I have been greatly enjoying the weather here in Bydgoszcz. When I first got here, I caught the last moments of the summer and its warmth. Since then, each week has been getting colder and colder, which was marked by the color of the leaves as they changed from green to yellow and red. Now the last leaves are finally falling off the trees and today we have our first snow.

Wielka Wioslarska o Puchar Brdy

Three weeks ago (the weekend immediately following the Rund um Wannsee Regatta in Berlin) I competed in the Great Row for the Brda Cup, as it would be called in English. It was a head race held here in Bydgoszcz on the Brda River. I stroked the Bydgostia club entry, which was comprised of myself and the younger group of oarsmen at the club, those that are now too old to qualify as juniors (basically 19 or older). The other guys at the clubs, that is those with whom I have been racing were rowing in different boats in the regatta. Unlike in the U.S. where each individual university has a team and they all compete against each other, here in Poland, each town has one or two (or here, three) different clubs where athletes train and compete, regardless of what university they go to (assuming they are of age to attend and inclined to attend university). Normally, boat lineups are made up of members of the club, regardless of what school or university they attend. But for this occasion, since it is a great publicity booster for the city of Bydgoszcz, all of the universities want their athletes to row in university line-ups. Since I am not part of any university, I was with the club eight. We finished fifth overall.

My favorite memory from the regatta, however, was performed by my coxswain: Janek Erdman. Three times during the race, while our boat was in full swing at 32 strokes a minute, our coxswain detected some water plants caught on our rudder, slowing us down and affecting his steering. Three times, he stood up, turned around, laid himself down on the stern deck and freed the boat of the weeds. It’s a pretty crazy feeling to be rowing at full speed with your coxswain laying on the stern deck with the good possibility of falling in, all of which is happening on a very windy river.

Other than that, the weekend was very enjoyable. Besides our home Bydgoszcz entries, there were crews from Germany, Moldavia, Lithuania and England. Actually, there were three boats representing England, one from Cambridge University, one from Oxford University and one from Nottingham University. That is definitely one of the nice things about racing in Europe; the countries are a lot closer so there are more opportunities for international racing.

And to cap it all off, following the regatta, I made it back in time to see the news with sports highlights of my eight starting the race, complete with line-up and my name at the top of the tv. I’ve been in Poland for six weeks and already made the news!