Mar 4thHouse of Cards’ Frank Underwood can do 500 meters in 1:39 on his water rowing machine (erg)

I finished House of Cards season 2 a while back.  I’ve been meaning to post about Frank Underwood’s 500 meter time.  In the show, he says he can knock out 500m in 1:39.  Its been a good while since my competitive rowing days, and even then I was a coxswain.  I was skeptical about Frank’s time and even more so about my ability to even come close to 1:39.  I gave it a try the other day, and barely came in at 2 minutes even.  I realized later I didn’t have the resistance all the way up on the machine, but I don’t even know if that matters.  What I do know, is that I have my doubts about a middle aged politician rowing such an impressive time…

Be sure to Click Here to see my post about rowing in DC, heavy with pictures!

***Update:  I’ve tried the FU Erg Challenge a few more times since my first post, mostly as a workout warm up.  Even with the resistance at 10, my best time is still about 1:58.  However, Frank and I have different rowing machines.  See my other HOC posts (linked above and below) for details and links about the specifics.

******Update II:  Since season three came out, I’ve had a lot of renewed interest in this post.  Friend of the blog, David, did a little investigating, and had this to say:

Rented Water rower after watching House of Cards.  There is no way that Frank Underwood did 500 meters in 1:39.  The Water rower has a computerized meter and at 30 strokes a minute it measures about 3:50 for 500 meters.  The only way he did that in 1:39 is that there was NO resistance and they put the sound of the water in afterwords.  The more resistance the harder it would be to pull and the more time it would take.  I rowed with the video and all he did was 30 strokes a minute.  Frank Underwood is a compulsive liar so it is plausible he lied to Clair about his skills.  1:39  NO WAY!!!

In researching Frank’s assertion of his prowess , I Googled the world record for 500 meters on a rowing machine and found it to be around 1:29. I watched a video of said record done by a weight lifter with legs and arms like trees, so we can assume  we have been Underwooded!!!!!

When I’m not rowing indoors, I like to be out on the Potomac (Maybe in season 3 Frank will take up the sport for real).  To find out about where I row in DC, and more about FU/rowing, Click Here.

Read my post to learn how to smoke bbq like Freddy here.

I also have another HOC S2 post about the Civil War episode, Here.

If you’d just like to see more about this southern gentleman inside the beltway, click the title of my blog to see my most current posts.  Thanks for checking out the blog, and feel free to follow me on twitter @bonvivantva