I have never rowed, but I was the coxswain (that's the boat yeller) for our uni's jv mens team for a year and it gave me an appreciation of the erg I will never let go of. The best thing is the new gym I joined has two and they are NEVER in use. Unfortunately, one appears to be in a state of disrepair, but the other is fine and now that I am already being forced indoors due to darkening days, I will be using it in my fall/winter training regimen, which will ultimately be some weirdo rotation of swimming-running-cycling-rowing. I have to figure it out exactly, lol. Anyway, used one for the first time in several years and clicked away.

The concept II is a great machine and I'd love to have one for my dream fitness room, someday. In the meanwhile, I will hoard it to myself at the gym. I don't know why more people don't use them, they are great! I love the allover workout it gives me. As for getting bored, between the ipod, my hrm, and the display telling me how fast I'm going and how far I've gone, I manage to stay entertained.

I was looking at the Concept web page and they do indoor erg racing! Sounds like something to keep things interesting.

Edit, and I should add I like to kayak too. There are run, bike, kayak tris now. I'm going to do one next year for sure, just have learned of them only recently. I think you can also make teams for them.