Welcome to the tandem page!
Strongly suggest you commit to a tandem.
Your eyesight is not getting any better so much safer to do the rides as a stoker if your spouse is willing/able to handle the tandem pilot duties.
Have ridden with sight impaired/blind stokers . . . hey they're good!
Years ago we used to reularly lead tandem rides (with singles invited) on a monthly basis in the Tucson area.
Anywhere from a couple tandems to up to a dozen(at best) would show up. Singles would ride with us and quite often they too became tandemers!
So if you belong to a local club, suggest you host/lead a tandem ride . . .see who shows up.
Now we usually ride in tandem about 100 miles a week, but we are in our mid-70s and do not ride as far/fast as we used to.
The last couple weeks we've had tandem friends show up from California and Maryland to get in a couple days of riding here in sunny Arizona; it may be November but our temps are just about perfect (mid-70s in the p.m. and 30 degrees cooler in the a.m.) .
However, most of the time it's just the 2-of-us getting in our regular 20-milertro stay in shape
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
Originally Posted by
jnbrown
I think Bill summed it up pretty good , but I will add this.
We only ride with other tandems because some of friends and neighbor have one, there is a tandem club but we never ride with them because of logisitics and the differences in ability.
We ride with singles more and we have no trouble keeping up or even going faster on flats but tend to fall behind on hills.
Tandems just don't climb as efficiently as singles. Although I am much stronger than my wife on hills, she goes faster up hills on her single than we do on the tandem. I never get to be the stoker, so you will get enjoy that as far as not having to worry about steering, braking and shifting. Just be the engine and enjoy the ride.