For us, riding a tandem was a slow progression. We started with a cruiser tandem, a Trailmate. I did not own a car until I was in my mid 20s. So, I was used to riding a bike a lot. My stoker had not ridden a bike since she was a kid. So, for years, we would ride through Tulane's campus (on sidewalks) and around Audubon Park (paved bike path without cars), maybe 3-4 miles. We would do that once a week or so. At some point, we rode all the way downtown and to the French Quarter, on city streets. We did that a number of times on the Trailmate. After some years of riding and too many maintenance issues, we got a Trek T900. We started riding more often, and a bit further. After we got back from evacuating from Hurricane Katrina, we started riding every day on the Mississippi River levee (paved path, no cars) just to get fresh air and avoid debris. The air quality in the city was not good at that time. I would try to extend our distance, and she would be somewhat resistant. In 2016, we got our DaVinci Grand Junction. We ride every morning for about 45 minutes, and about an hour and 15 minutes on Sundays. We take occasional longer rides to the French Quarter and to Lake Pontchartrain and to City Park. She never complains about how far we ride and never forgoes a morning ride unless its raining. She now cheerfully hops on a bike fully loaded with a portable table and chairs and picnic food. We have enjoyed every phase of our tandem bike riding, even though we began and still are at different levels of riding ability (though she has come a long way since we started). Try to stay patient and let her appetite for riding grow at her pace. Also, consider getting panniers and portable chairs and a table to carry for picnics and outdoor events. My stoker takes a book to read and I take the puzzles from the newspaper and sometimes we stop and hangout before riding back home.