NAME: Ted Riedeburg OCCUPATION: Director and Head Coach with Rock City Rowing
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WHERE I ROW: I first learned how to row as a freshman in high school on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, New York. Since then I have lived in Florida, and now Arkansas. Some of my favorite race courses I’ve been to over the years are in Sarasota, Florida; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Augusta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now, I’m really looking forward to our relocation to Two Rivers Park in Little Rock. That is going to be a beautiful place to row.
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WHY I ROW: I enjoy the challenge of striving for the perfect stroke, either alone in a single or with a team in a bigger boat. The rhythm created with the sounds of the boat and water are like music, which creates a meditative state in which you are completely focused on making the rowing shell move efficiently over the surface of the water. There’s nothing else like it.
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THE KIT
1. KAENON POLARIZED SUNGLASSES: “The glare off the water is sometimes worse than the sun itself, so rowers need a good pair of polarized wrap-arounds.” 2. NK SPEED COACH: “This handy device measures distance, speed and stroke rate to monitor progress across practice sessions and helps you keep a constant prescribed speed or tempo.” 3. CONCEPT2 SCULLING OARS: “These are ‘Smoothie 2’ oars with a vortex edge, a good universal blade for various abilities. Sculling oars are approximately 9 feet long where sweep oars (for the ‘Big Boats’) are about 12 feet in length.” 4. WINTECH SINGLE SCULL: “This is their midweight club trainer model, which is good for beginners or as a club boat. It’s durable and a little more forgiving than a stiffer, lighter racing boat.”
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5. CONCEPT2 INDOOR ROWER:“This is the most common tool on land for increasing sport-specific fitness and strength and may be referred to as the ‘ERG’ or rower’s torture device. We also use it to teach basic technique to beginners.”
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