Thursday 18 February 2010

Memories of rowing

I rowed on UC Irvine's varsity women's crew team when I was attending university, on both port and starboard, depending on the occasion, usually as bow of the 8 or as stroke of the lightweight four. Niki, one of my teammates (about twice as tall and thrice as smart as me) is collecting short descriptions of what we're doing post-Shellmaker Island. This is what I wrote.

"Since crew and graduating from UCI in 2001, I have been to business school at Waseda University in Tokyo and have come to work for Formosa Television in Taipei, where I'm currently a reporter and anchor. Although I don't have the chance to row anymore, I still think about the wonderful time I had on the water, with my teammates and with Carrie. To this day, may favorite sound is still that of eight oars simultaneously clicking in the oarlocks on the feather. There is something really special about that crisp and hollow sound eight hard-working women make together with so much precision and power. Thank you for the memories, in friendship, in feeling, in images, in sounds."

To get an idea, here's the recruiting video UCI crew made several years later. Our boathouse was on Shellmaker Island in Newport Beach, California. It was where we were everyday starting at 5h30, forcing to grow every single muscle in our body, including the heart and training mitochondria to produce more ATP's. If you wonder why I can run and cycle, and even climb up the stairs of Taipei 101 faster than anyone else without training, here is your answer. :D

7 comments:

Susana said...

Hi Michella! I LOVE that photo you posted of the lantern festival! Do you give me permission to post it on my blog? Of course I will credit it!

Unknown said...

Thank you, Susana!
You're more than welcome to use the picture :)
The lanterns were actually hanging from a new apartment building that's still being built.

Susana said...

Thanks, Michella! I love your photos and all the stories you tell us... make miss Taiwan very much!!!

Bryan said...

Michella,

Did you ever think about getting an indoor rower (e.g. the Concept 2)? I know that it does not recreate the whole experience of rowing, but from a workout perspective, it is pretty good.

Unknown said...

Bryan,

I have nothing but painful memories when it comes to ergs. But that may be a good idea for rainy day workouts. How much are those in Taiwan? Any idea?

Bryan said...

I dont know in Taiwan. I bought one (a Concept 2) in the US and brought it over with me to Korea. It was about US$900 (cost+tax+shipping) when I bought it in the US. I would imagine that it probably would be around NT$30000 or so. Concept 2 does have a dealer in Taiwan.

Taiwan (rowing machines only)

Gymco Sport Ltd.
Allen Chien
7F-1, No. 196-2, Sec. 3, Tatung Road, Hsi-Chih Taipei County, TAIWAN
Tel: 886-2-8647-1016
Fax: 886-2-8647-1812
email: gymco647@ms15.hinet.net

Unknown said...

Thanks Bryan for looking that up for me!