I began rowing in 1997 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. As is the case with most athletes in the program, I was picked out of the registration queue because I was tall (six and a half feet). The following are some interesting rowing links.

• Row2k.com. By far the most popular rowing site on the net.

• rowersworld.com. Another totally decent site.

• USRowing. One of these days I'll make one of their boats. If you're like most people and know nothing about the sport, Outside magazine featured a decent article for the uninitiated on the subject a few years ago that can be found here.

• The [quasi] Independent Rowing News. A good monthly publication if you're into the sport.

• The usenet group rec.sport.rowing. If you're not familiar with usenet, it's a bit more user-freindly to access it through google groups.

Througout my life I have enjoyed a number of other physical activities. These have taken an increasingly subservient role to rowing in the last five years, but I hope to someday be able to dedicate more time to the.

• cycling. I fell into this one almost by accident. A few years ago I suffered a stress fracture to a rib while rowing. This coincided with an irritated right iliotibial band that left me unable to run, and I started riding a bicycle for excercise. Being a fresheman in college with no money and nothing else to do, the bicycle promptly responded to my riding it by breaking down... repeatedly. I ended up riding it back home to Minneapolis at the end of the semester. During the course of these events, I accomplished basically two things: I (1) became a semicompetent bicycle mechanic out of necessity, and I (2) learned to love bicycle touring. Unfortunately, I haven't had much of an opportunity to do more of it since, with the exception of a few day trips (<120 miles). If you're interested, the best resource I've yet found on the topic is Ken Kifer's bike pages.

• nordic skiing. I started doing this one at Breck high school, my alma mater. Yes, this is actually a state-sanctioned high school sport in Minnesota. Unfortunately, I can't really do it if I want to now for two reasons: first, there is no longer any snow in Wisconsin. I'm blaming this on global warming. Second, all of my waxing stuff disappeared into the black pit that is the locker room in the UW Boathouse, and I don't have $50 to replace all the stuff. Which is just as well, since apparently it no longer snows in Wisconsin.

• running. This was what really got me into endurance athletics in the first place. The high water mark of my distance running remains with the completion of Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN in 1997. I threw up and blacked out at mile 19, but I still managed to finish in under four hours. This represented a moral victory at best, but what can you do?