preventec47

I cant imagine that no one has put in writing the many aspects of teamwork and communication that can best assure a successful and enjoyable ride
for a pair of riders. If anyone knows of existing guidelines, please point me in the right direction. My thoughts are
1. How to mount the bike
2. How to start off including foot placement, pedal placement, and verbal cues
3. Communicating when approaching bumps,
4. Communicating when shifting up and down by captain, and accepting requests from the stoker to shift up or down.
5. Communicating intentions to turn or other changes in direction when several options in directions present themselves
6. Emphasizing that the stoker must be loud and vocal about any concerns or requests
7 Insisting that the stoker not be shy about all things seen that could become a problem like a car approaching or dogs on a leash or red lights changing etc.
8. Special verbiege to communicate when the stokers feet might slip off the pedals. "I'M OFF" ! Then "right foot" the captain places the right side pedal and the forward
three oclock position then "Left Foot" and the captain places the left side pedal in the forward three oclock position to make it easier for the stoker to place their
feet properly on the pedals.
9. Notice that the captain is going to do a full STOP with suggestion that stoker come off the seat with at least one foot down on the ground.
I use the command before stopping.... "Going to Dismount"

I dont have a lot of miles but I have two tandems and have been riding tandems for twenty years and these are the things I have come up with.
It would be greatly appreciated if others could chime in with what works for them and any helpful suggestions etc.



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preventec47

ADD

Say "COASTING" when intent on not pedaling

Add Stoker signaling for turns to following traffic TURN SIGNAL

Leisesturm

Dude, April 1st is more than a week away. You're killing here. You da Capitan. YOU are responsible for spotting things like dogs, cars or timed out lights. My Stoker is totally blind so she is completely off the hook on the 'second pair of eyes' score, but even so, there are primary responsibilities and secondary ones, noticing that the address you are looking for and/or navigation in general might be something to delegate to the Co-pilot but, again, traffic signals are YOUR responsibility. The Stoker never comes off the seat except AFTER a full stop. So there is no need to warn them of a full stop. We have one command for stops and it is all purpose. I could mean stop pedaling and we are going to coast for awhile, or it could mean stop pedaling we are going to stop right now. Stopping simply means stop pedaling. Tandeming is supposed to be an enjoyable activity for Captain and Stoker both. I shouldn't tell another Captain how to run his rig but I can suggest, don't overthink it. Me and mine have a LOT of miles twogether albeit compressed into about 12 years because we only met 12 years ago and do not drive so our various tandems function as transportation, sport and also recreation. We are on a tandem of some kind, every single day. I don't think we use more than a half dozen commands. Most of the time we are just chatting about stuff. So ... commands.

We use the 'Proper Method'. It really works. I get my leg over the top tube but do not take the saddle, obviously. If you can take the saddle without being underway it is too low. Once I'm on, I say "I'm on. I have to because she can't see that I am. You're good there. She then gets on and gets her feet into the PowerGrips. This requires rotating the pedals, so I get my feet out of the way so they can turn as needed. Then I secure my right foot in the PowerGrip (or clip in on the racing tandem), push off and we are underway. The first official command that comes up is usually:
FOOT: Means I need to stop pedaling for a moment to clip in me left foot, arrgh. It is about the only redundant command in our retinue. STOPPING could just as easily work.
STOPPING: pedal rotation, for any reason. and there is no 'starting' command. If I resume pedaling after a coast I just do it. It has never been a problem.
GEARS: Front shift, reduce pedal pressure to next to nothing. Rear shifts get no command. No command needed to resume nominal cadence either.
BUMP: Only major bumps are called out. Apologies are made for significant bumps not called out.
POWER: Self explanatory. Gimme all you got, arrgghh. Now!
SIGNAL LEFT (followed by CANCEL just before we actually heel over for the turn so she can get both hands back on the bars through the turn. While she is signaling she periodically says SIGNALING mainly because I might forget to cancel and she hates taking turns one handed.)
SIGNAL RIGHT (as above) The CANCEL command is the only one that needs a response. If it is not responded to with a CANCELLED then it will be repeated until acknowledged.

I might be the rare Captain who had less (zero) tandem experience than my Stoker but, as Captain, it was (is) my job to Captain with confidence and good judgement. My Stokers previous Captains never gave consistent commands. I thought we should have a consistent set. They have evolved over time. Our second date was a 12 mile ride on a rented tandem. With terrible brakes. We had little to no conversation prior to the ride about teamwork or any other thing about tandeming. We just rode. I could ride a bike. A tandem was just a bigger, heavier, less zippy, roadbike. Make your first ride(s) easy, short(ish) and fun and if it is going to get serious you will know. Good luck.

longpete

We use around 50 codes and words or a combination of coedes and words(eg bump one).(so many because offroad tandeming is more complex). Numbers are easier than words when there is a lot of wind.
We also have different mother tongues. So we use numbers in English. Numbers are also faster to say.
U have to find out what works for u both best while riding. We started with ten. But ther are so many kinds of bumps and traffic situations.
75% codes comes from me 25% from her. (stoker even when not blind does not see very much of what's coming) In the beginning this is far too complicated. Then it was : do like me.
Stand up for every bump is the fastest signal in the beginning.
Number one :
Clicked in?(stoker not me) My position is like the one described by Leisesturm.
Very important :say when u're going to brake and how hard: the stoker can get thrown of the saddle. I lost pedal contact is also a very important message.
Since DI2 and only one chainwheel, warning for shifting less important.
It's important to tell if one of u is going to move on the bike or let go of the handlebar. (drink, food, turn around, take photo etc).
Certainly when the frame is not so stiff and the stoker is not a lightweight.
Very important is : finding a way of riding both standing on the pedals, to relief pressure when climbing.
On the flat u can standup without pedaling, uphill this does not work.
When i cycle alone i move the bike from the left to the rigt, with her we move our bodies, not the bike.
New thing she had to learn : time the pedals. Other tandem pedals were always timed.
If stoker wants to stop pedaling also important. On the new bike I can stop pedaling ans she can go on.
And don't forget the stoker is allways right. The captain has to make the stoker happy. No tandeming possible without a stoker.
So make compliments, talk about imrovements, say sorry when u make mistake or something goes wrong.Say thank u for the nice ride.

Carbonfiberboy 

We hardly talk at all except for route questions and directions. Stoker navigates, Captain operates the bike. Everything else is habit and pedal feel. Exception is that Captain counts 1, 2, 3 pedal strokes before we stand.

jim_pridx

I was basically going to comment along the same lines in regard to "pedal feel" and "standing." Other than our non-bike-related chitter-chatter, I rarely call out anything else unless I happen to see a bump in the road or something out of the ordinary. We've been tandeming for 35+ years, and for whatever reason my wife (stoker) has been a natural on the bike since day one. She just has a very good feel for when I shift, brake, stop/start pedaling, etc., etc. I would suppose that it's perfectly okay to come up with a list of instructions for a stoker who's never ridden a tandem before, but I guess I've never felt the need to do so myself.

Carbonfiberboy 

I tell prospective tandem couples that it's as close to sex as you're going to get with your clothes on.

reburns

Same here, with the exception that I occasionally use the commands "brake on" and "brake off" since my wife/stoker is responsible for the drag brake as well as navigation.

fooferdoggie 

have trouble sometime saying what I am doing as I am thinking about it. my wife can feel the turns so I only tell her when it is a hard turn . with the e tandem shifting is a bit weird but if I let up on pending I can shift with her step peddling unless I am going to a larger cog. I need to tell her then but my shifting is so automatic I cant really manage to tell her. she does not aways he=ar me anyway so it would not work. she can feel when I am braking and stopping now.

jim_pridx

Haha! I may have to use that line sometime......

preventec47

Yea that is cute. I am going to point out the similarities such as the Stoker always has veto power. Either stoker or captain can request faster or slower or urge caution when bumps are
anticipated... Either rider can command full stop for any reason. :-)

PoeCo

Hmm... interesting thoughts. We don't really talk about/have commands when riding the tandem. About the only thing I ask (as captain) is whether he is ready when we're at a full stop and we're getting ready to start again, just to make sure (sometimes he's not paying attention and we both dismount at stops - which works for us - so need to be sure we're both ready to mount/pedal... if I don't get some sort of "okay" or "yes" I don't go). That is about it except for warning about big bumps or coasting (which we don't do very often unless down a mountain side and we're out of gears). Occasionally, I'll ask him to signal a turn, but usually he just does this on his own.

Really, we took to tandem riding pretty fluidly, even from the first ride (despite my being completely unnerved about being responsible for both of us - which I still take seriously, but don't feel the tension I felt early-on now). I'd read so many horror stories for years before starting to actually ride a tandem (which is why we didn't start sooner - I feared we'd just argue constantly), so I was shocked at how easily we took to it. Haven't had any major fights yet, but it's still fairly new for us at 4-5 years now. Maybe because we've both ridden solo for a long time or because we communicate in everyday life pretty effortlessly anyway? I'm not entirely sure what the reasoning is, but am grateful that it hasn't been a difficult process at all and we haven't had a need to set up many cues/commands.

I can see that for some it may be beneficial to start off with a set of cues to keep both people on the same page, but I also think that there is no universal set of rules that have to be followed. As long as both captain and stoker know what's going on, that's what matters, I think. Perhaps finding out what your stoker is thinking/feeling before creating this written rule book would be beneficial? You said you've been riding a tandem for a long time - is it new for this stoker? Have they ridden solo bikes? Even if not, s/he may have thoughts/fears that would be good to get before creating the list. I know I wouldn't like someone telling me how it's going to be without getting my opinion... but maybe that's just me.

DKMcK 

The Proper Method The Proper Method