Communication on a Tandem

On the tandem it's pretty easy to cooperate. There are two simple reasons for this. One is that without cooperation, neither rider will go far once underway, and the other is that unless the experience is enjoyable for both parties, one or the other will stop going for rides. The old adage is that an unhappy stoker means no more rides, and there's really no finessing this. 

When my wife and I started tandeming, we first developed a way to communicate. There's a bunch of stuff online about how to communicate on a tandem and why it's important, but the first person to articulate this to us was the guy in Alpharetta, GA who sold us our first tandem on craigslist, and it was something in passing like, be sure to tell your stoker before you hit a bump. 

This is really important on a tandem because the captain can see things on the road the stoker cannot, and the captain controls the bike and does things that can upset the stoker's equilibrium. We came up with the following keywords that I would say:
  • Stroke - Start pedaling. If we're standing still, then it's time to start exerting ourselves. If we're coasting, it's time to start pedaling again. We chose "stroke" instead of "pedal" so there would be no ambiguity about whether pedal was the verb as in "Please pedal now" or the noun as in "My foot is off the pedal."
  • Coast - Stop pedaling and coast. 
  • Shift - Shift into a higher gear.
  • Down - Shift into a lower gear. 
  • Bump - We are going to hit a bump.
It's easy to take these for granted on a single bike, but both it's not hard to imagine how unpleasant it is to be cruising along either pedaling or coasting and then to switch to the other state without warning, or to be pedaling along at a nice cadence and then to downshift and start spinning much faster, or vice versa. Bumps are particularly important because if you see one on a single bike it is natural to lift your butt off the saddle a little or to let the legs absorb it. Without the warning the stoker absorbs it fully (and sometimes painfully). Plus the stoker is closer to being over the back wheel so that more shock is transferred to that rider.

There are other words we use, too, for our own riding but these are the main five. Usually I say them, but sometimes the stoker will ask to shift up or down or to coast. Most of the time that's no big deal but sometimes I see things ahead and say, sure but we'll have to wait. It's also useful to give warning for things, like when we can coast for a while. This lets the stoker know it's a good time to stand and adjust or to grab a drink from the bottle on the bike. Similarly, it's nice to let the stoker know when we're approaching a hill or give a heads up about how much or the hill is left.

My son and I were out the other day on the tandem and we came up with a paradigm of the stages of communication on a tandem. This was a fun activity.
  • Stage 1 - Basic voice commands to describe our behavior. This is good for beginning tandem teams to practice. I am a stronger and more experienced cyclist than my wife or my kids, though my wife had gotten really strong when we were riding a lot, and my son is becoming a strong rider, too. In this stage the captain gets accustomed to calling out often and the stoker gets accustomed to making their needs known.
  • Stage 2 - Knowing what's coming without needing as many voice commands. This is a really fun stage for a tandem team. By this time the captain and stoker have a good feel for each other so that the stoker can sense when the captain is going to shift up or down, or to pedal or coast. The captain can also feel when the stoker needs to be in a different gear or knows when the stoker likely needs a drink or to adjust.
  • Stage 3 - Voice commands about level of exertion. Our tandems are heavier than our single bikes, and though we have two people powering them, I as the captain still do more than half of the work. This is fine, by the way; I ride a lot more than anybody else in our family, and I don't expect my wife or either of my kids to have the same strength or stamina. Tandeming is a good workout for both parties but can be an extra good workout for the captain. Having said that it's useful to have system to describe how much effort one of us needs from the other. We may be approaching a hill or getting ready to pass another rider on a trail, so I'll ask the stoker to give me a big boost. Alternatively, I may ask the stoker to keep some in reserve because I know I'll need fresh legs at the end of a climb, for example.
  • Stage 4 - Intuiting what the other needs. One of the best feelings I've ever had--on or off the bike--came when my wife and I were out riding after we'd been on the bike for a few months. We on a route that we had been on several times before, which had a pretty big climb at the beginning. As with many climbs, this one had sections that were steeper than others. This particular climb was a little over a mile with three steep sections, the steepest of which was in the final quarter mile. The hill got pretty steep and then lessened with about a tenth of a mile to go. That day we were climbing the hill and we were both huffing and puffing as usual. We got to the last steep section and I have a pretty good push, but then I was sort of tired out for the last tenth of a mile that was less intense but still unrelenting. Then I felt a big enough boost from my wife that I could actually shift into a higher gear. I hadn't asked, but she could feel what I needed. In fact, I wasn't even really aware that I needed the help, but when it came it was just exactly what I needed in exactly the right measure. It was wonderful. 
After my wife and I had our first experience on the tandem where she could feel that I needed help, I thought about other, more subtle, times on the bike when one of us could sense what the other was feeling. As we rode more and more we developed a deep level of communication without words. And this had to happen on a bike. We both became better at being able to pick up subtle cues off the bike, too, but I was just not observant enough to read her emotions or to see what she needed in a lot of situations. On the bike, however, she and I were literally tethered to one another physically via our clipless pedals and timing chain. We gave each other physical cues that were much easier detect, even when the sending or receiving was unconscious. Once I started looking for these messages and learned--through practice on the tandem--how to see them, I became a much more attentive husband off the bike, too. It turns out my ideal mate does have some mind reading capability after all. Something similar has begun to happen with my kids, but we have a lot more practicing to do.

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