Originally Posted by
conspiratemus1
If both captain and stoker put a foot down to stop, how do you handle the change of plans at the last second when a stop either becomes or ceases to be necessary? Let's say you are approaching a stoplight that you think (because you can see the amber light for the cross street) is going to turn green by the time you reach it, if you time your slow roll properly. But then you realize, when the light changes, that the facing traffic has an advance green to turn left across you, so you have to stop. Do both of you have to click out simultaneously, or can you stay up if only the captain picks it up in time to plant his foot at the moment forward motion ceases?
Or reverse situation: you have both clicked out to coast to a stop at a red, and then the light suddenly changes to green, just before you've planted your feet. Does the captain have to complete the stop (with the light green) to coordinate the re-start with the stoker, or can the captain just click back in and stomp on it?
I'm also curious about that. We have two versions of the Proper Method, the short stop and the long stop.
If captain is sure the bike will only be stopped for a few seconds, he puts one foot down and balances the bike with the clipped foot at 6:00. When it's time to go, captain says, "pedal" and we both move the captain's clipped pedal to the 10:00 position and captain pushes off.
But if we're coming up to a light that has just turned red, or are stopping to wait for another tandem, we'll stop in the normal manner. Stoker stays clipped in and captain puts one foot down. But then captain unclips and puts other foot down and centers the bike. When captain decides to go he says "pedal." Stoker presents captain's preferred pedal at 10:00. As the light starts to turn or other bike appears, captain clips into presented pedal, balances on one foot until the right moment, then pushes off with no verbal.
Captain finds it very easy to balance a stoker of equal weight (though Stoker
is lighter than Captain) for very long periods with the bike centered and both feet on the ground. Captain prefers to have one foot down only for a few seconds at a time, having had an embarrassing moment or two before Stoker got quiet.
When tightrope walkers want more stability, they carry a weight up high. This increases their moment of inertia about the pivot and slows their motion. Thus with an upright tandem, it's easy to slow to almost a track stand. Captain finds it necessary to maintain some slight forward movement so as to be able to instantly move the front wheel to one side and drop a foot to the other if a complete stop is required. Of course Wonderful Stoker is now very quiet. Captain can't even tell she's there unless she's pedaling.
I would think it very difficult to do this sort of close order drill in traffic if both riders were moving their feet off and on the pedals.
So two things: Stoker needs to learn to be quiet so captain can have control of steering and balance. Captain has the choice of one foot or two feet depending on length of stop. Stoker unclips only if bike will be stopped for longer than a couple of minutes.
When stopped, stoker can stand on the pedals for a butt break once captain has both feet down. Stokers should get a butt break when they want! Butt break is over when captain says, "pedal."
Tandeming is complicated. Experienced teams make it look easy, but it wasn't always.