Scooter123
04-02-07, 01:54 PM
Hi Folks,
As a warning, everything I'm about to say here is skewed because I'm your basic male-tandem-captain-fairly-strong-rider, and I'm about to wander into the murky waters of discussing my less experienced but otherwise charming, attractive and intelligent wife who is not as strong a rider. She loves bicycling but does not ride as challenging rides or as far. I've been riding for over twenty-five years, and she picked it up seriously - again - about four years ago.
IMO we have made a lot of progress on our tandem over the last two years. However, on any long ride we'll have at least one disagreement over whether I'm communicating well enough (probably not) or am inadvertently wearing her out (probably). There will very likely also be at least one situation where I have to think quickly to avoid an accident and will get in trouble because I did not also explain what I had decided to do at the same time.
But that is material for another thread... More likely, several past threads. The good news is that we have made a lot of progress in that time and our disagreements seem more brief and fewer this year.
OK, here's the situation we're facing. We both have ridden on single recumbents in the past, and are considering getting a recumbent tandem to replace our current upright road tandem. We've gotten to the point of wanting to try a recumbent tandem to see how we like it, but we're not yet sold on the idea. We know a few couples in our area who have them, and they seem very comfortable and happy.
So now that we're taking this idea seriously, my wife dropped another idea into the mix: that with a recumbent tandem, she may be able to ride as captain some or all of the time.
We do our best to treat eachother as equals, and have been fairly successful at it. But I have some doubts regarding whether we can ride effectively with her as captain. I have read that it is important to have the stronger and more experienced rider at the controls, but how important is it? Would changing this be slightly more problematic, or a big mistake? And, would it be an even worse mistake not to take the idea seriously?
Before I get piled on over having control issues, I'd like to say in my defense that I am more comfortable riding in her car as a passenger than she is in mine. She has a tendency to want to drive from either seat. That may just mean that I'm not as good a driver, so I won't claim that it's 100% proof. There's also the TV remote control... I have to admit that I lost that battle years ago when we got our tivo. But we can joke about that.
In contrast I've been in a bad fall-over-sideways accident on my recumbent, and I'm very concerned that we'll be at greater risk with her having to steer our combined mass around. The distance to the ground from a recumbent is comparatively short. Will she be able to respond as effectively to an unbalancing force? And will she get worn out even sooner than she does as our stoker?
We can't test the waters by trading locations on our current tandem. Her legs are longer than mine, and our frame is designed for a captain with shorter legs. She has the idea that a recumbent tandem needs less body english to steer. I know that you can't stand up on a recumbent's pedals and move it around, so she may have a point. I'm not sure how it works with a recumbent tandem.
I will admit that there's a strong dose of "not sure I can adapt" in all of this as well. I started riding bicycles in my late teens and have never set it aside completely. It will be a major task to adapt mentally to letting someone else operate the controls. Before I consider trying to get my head around that commitment, I want to know how good an idea it is.
Has anyone here experimented with swapping captain & stoker roles, and what were the results?
--
Scooter in NC
As a warning, everything I'm about to say here is skewed because I'm your basic male-tandem-captain-fairly-strong-rider, and I'm about to wander into the murky waters of discussing my less experienced but otherwise charming, attractive and intelligent wife who is not as strong a rider. She loves bicycling but does not ride as challenging rides or as far. I've been riding for over twenty-five years, and she picked it up seriously - again - about four years ago.
IMO we have made a lot of progress on our tandem over the last two years. However, on any long ride we'll have at least one disagreement over whether I'm communicating well enough (probably not) or am inadvertently wearing her out (probably). There will very likely also be at least one situation where I have to think quickly to avoid an accident and will get in trouble because I did not also explain what I had decided to do at the same time.
But that is material for another thread... More likely, several past threads. The good news is that we have made a lot of progress in that time and our disagreements seem more brief and fewer this year.
OK, here's the situation we're facing. We both have ridden on single recumbents in the past, and are considering getting a recumbent tandem to replace our current upright road tandem. We've gotten to the point of wanting to try a recumbent tandem to see how we like it, but we're not yet sold on the idea. We know a few couples in our area who have them, and they seem very comfortable and happy.
So now that we're taking this idea seriously, my wife dropped another idea into the mix: that with a recumbent tandem, she may be able to ride as captain some or all of the time.
We do our best to treat eachother as equals, and have been fairly successful at it. But I have some doubts regarding whether we can ride effectively with her as captain. I have read that it is important to have the stronger and more experienced rider at the controls, but how important is it? Would changing this be slightly more problematic, or a big mistake? And, would it be an even worse mistake not to take the idea seriously?
Before I get piled on over having control issues, I'd like to say in my defense that I am more comfortable riding in her car as a passenger than she is in mine. She has a tendency to want to drive from either seat. That may just mean that I'm not as good a driver, so I won't claim that it's 100% proof. There's also the TV remote control... I have to admit that I lost that battle years ago when we got our tivo. But we can joke about that.
In contrast I've been in a bad fall-over-sideways accident on my recumbent, and I'm very concerned that we'll be at greater risk with her having to steer our combined mass around. The distance to the ground from a recumbent is comparatively short. Will she be able to respond as effectively to an unbalancing force? And will she get worn out even sooner than she does as our stoker?
We can't test the waters by trading locations on our current tandem. Her legs are longer than mine, and our frame is designed for a captain with shorter legs. She has the idea that a recumbent tandem needs less body english to steer. I know that you can't stand up on a recumbent's pedals and move it around, so she may have a point. I'm not sure how it works with a recumbent tandem.
I will admit that there's a strong dose of "not sure I can adapt" in all of this as well. I started riding bicycles in my late teens and have never set it aside completely. It will be a major task to adapt mentally to letting someone else operate the controls. Before I consider trying to get my head around that commitment, I want to know how good an idea it is.
Has anyone here experimented with swapping captain & stoker roles, and what were the results?
--
Scooter in NC