"When you are rowing well and hard, the rhythm of the stroke takes over: it drives your days and restores your nights. It imparts cadence and direction. You feel like you and the boat are one, you feel that no obstacle will put up any more resistance than the water does to your oars, you feel that hard work and grit and mental toughness will always win it for you in the end. You feel, above all, part of a larger enterprise. The loneliest sculler no less than the sweep rower in and eight belongs to the fellowship of the river."