The Glory of May Bumps

After my senior track season in 2006 I never imagined I would be racing competitively again, yet there I was: wearing spandex and feeling the adrenaline course through me.

But this is a bit different than any 1A track meet in Utah. For example, instead of a pistol to start we're waiting for a cannon to fire. The man counting down the seconds until the start also happens to be the former head of MI6 (aka the person to whom James Bond would have reported to in real life) and now he holds the title of Master of the College. But perhaps the biggest difference is that my feet are strapped into a 60 foot-long boat on a river in England with seven other guys and a female Scottish cox. And we're about to face the challenge of ramming the boat 90 feet in front of us before the one 90 feet behind us can catch us...

10
.
9
.
8
.
Come Forward to Row
.
6
.
5
.
Square blades
.
3
.
2
.
BOOM

Everything after that blast on all four days of the 2014 May Bumps is kind of a blur of pain. Keep in rhythm, square early, push with the legs, get the power in the water, relax those shoulders, power into the corner, and (Jen's favourite) Power 10!

The results weren't what we had hoped for (we got bumped all four days, the last two just yards from the finish line), but it was a great time. It was worth the cold winter mornings of getting to the boat house well before the sun came over the horizon, the painful sessions on the ergs (the technical term for rowing machines, and a fairly onomatopoetic description of how you feel after a 2000m sprint on one), the times debating what on earth was causing the boat to tip to one side or the other, and overall the great chance to become a crew who could move together in almost perfect harmony.

Part of my identity will always now include Strokesider Pembroke M2 Mays 2014. The hours I spend on the Cam, seeing nothing of the scenery as I concentrated on matching Greg's every move, will be one of my fondest memories of Cambridge. And we may have earned spoons, but our mascot was the cutest on the river by a long shot.