I’ve mentioned before that I live very close to the Cam. What this means is that it’s very rare for me to cycle to the station, go out for a box of teabags, or just have a wander, without seeing a rowing boat or three on the river.
And where there are rowing boats, there are coaches. The rowing coaches cycle up and down the towpath with buoyancy aids slung over their handlebars and with their eyes on the river, yelling at the boats. Sometimes, when the boat has slowed and the blades of the oars are trailing in the water, when the coach has brought their bike to a standstill, I overhear what they tell their charges. I like to listen, because their instructions are often useful clues.
Some seem pretty specific to the sport:
Here’s a trick that might be useful to you: imagine that you’re controlling the oar of the person in front.
Some seem to have more general application.
You should only be spending about 30% of the time on the stroke. The rest is recovery.
And then, yesterday,
You can’t fix the current stroke. You can only fix the next stroke.
You can’t fix the current stroke. You can only fix the next stroke.
Kathleen Jowitt 