by Janit Stahl
posted on July 6, 2006

Sandstone Quarry Joshua Tree

click images for full-size version

In Las Vegas, I lived a convenient five-mile trial run from Red Rock Canyon, a stirring blend of stark yuccas and Joshua trees set on a horizon dyed red with jutting rocks and sandstone valleys. The first two years of my residence, all I did was run; a slow trot while I soaked in the atmosphere of scurrying lizards, my dog chasing coyotes (not too smart!), and the subtle flowers, crouching near the red earth trying to hide from the sun. The temperatures would hit over 100 and I didn't mind. Despite northern European blood, it suited me.

Eventually I noticed that while I could run forever, my upper body was dwindling to geek status, so I joined the 24-hour Fitness. I was not a typical Las Vegas gym-goer. I was neither a size 2 or 20 (the dichotomy created by plastic surgery and buffets), did not carry a cell phone while I navigated the machines, and did not discuss the entertainment or gaming business (the LV euphemism for gambling) while I exercised. The atmosphere was strange at times, but that gym had everything; working out was easy and productive.

Sufficiently pumped up after a few months and looking for new challenges, that forgotten erg became my new Las Vegas friend. If it weren't for gym custodians, it would be dusty. No one used that ergometer (sorry, Concept 2), and eventually I got strange looks when I did use it.

Hurl-a-whirl

I like this name for an erg. Created for an amusement park ride on Jimmy Neutron, it sums up the experience of rowing a Concept 2 ergometer: It spins, it makes you puke. Hurl-a-whirl. I hadn't experienced the pull-and-puke phenomenon for 15 years-what was I missing?

No Water

I moved that erg out on to the gym floor--its placement restricted elbow movement and layback. Within weeks I was aiming for benchmark times and distances. No water for miles, I assure you. I heard that shells had been seen on Lake Mead, the body of water created by Hoover Dam, but I personally never got an oar in the water while in Nevada. But this was Las Vegas, maybe I should have navigated the waters of the Bellagio fountains, or the Venetians canals, or Mirage's explosive pool?

Finding rowing again was a slow process initiated where water simply didn't flow. In college in the Northeast, there is water everywhere: Philadelphia, Boston; I rowed all the major rivers during a short and unspectacular collegiate career. The erg was just a bridge between seasons. In the desert, it was the only (albeit tenuous) connection to the real thing.

I left Las Vegas within a year of my erg discovery. But before I left I was given an assignment from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where I was working as a stringer: go to all the local fitness centers and compare, evaluate and rate equipment and staff. Paid to work out and write about it! Jackpot!

I gave 24-Hour Fitness a nod for its diversity of equipment. After all, because they had a Concept 2 rowing ergometer in the gym, I rediscovered rowing while in arid Southern Nevada.

Oh…the water thing happened later, but that is another story.