I’ve heard horror stories about couples attempting to ride a tandem. Some people call tandem bikes divorce machines. I’ve read articles about proper verbal cues to use when riding tandem. None of that mattered yesterday.
Diane and I decided to do a tandem training ride. We’d take the hilly Eastern Parkway to Cherokee Park, then back and finish up with a beer.
We actually used little verbal communication for bike handling. Other than “back” to let Diane know when to rotate the pedals backward (when stopped), we mostly communicated by pedal speed and pressure. It’s coming pretty naturally.
We both struggled up the hills more than I thought we would. Diane gets a little scared above 30 mph. Standing and pedaling together isn’t going to work for us yet. So, we sit and spin up the hills, and coast downhill, using the brakes when appropriate. A scared stoker will refuse to be stoker next time.
I did cut our path through the park a bit short. Too much distance at once would be bad. We had to run home for an errand before our beer, but then we continued back to Four Pegs to finish the night. We limited our beer consumption. I’m not sure a drunk tandem team would be a good idea.
I didn’t take any pictures, but I did track the ride with the GPS.
Jenn and I communicate through the timing chain a lot, too.
The tandem you have is not really conducive to standing, in my not-so-humble opinion, although I suppose it could be done (our tandem is most assuredly not conducive to standing, but that’s a different issue).
Sounds like you have the basics covered as far as getting along on the bike. It’s important to be able to work together in stop-and-go stuff, and it’s more important than being able to pound long road miles with no stops.
You sound like a great captain to me. Well done, sir!