If you ride rallies on the tandem, you will collect wheel suckers and wheel sucker stories like yellowjackets on a banana skin.
Soome of my favorites:
1) Pulling a train of about 100 riders 10 miles then no-one letting me into the line when I needed a break... Like these guys were going to pull through in a paceline - they hadn't for the last 10 miles. Nowadays when we collect a big train, we'll attack a little instead of riding tempo. This tends to keep the group more manageable and at least you know that everyone is strong enough to pull - if they want to.
2) Dropping the chain on a botched granny shift and watching our erstwhile single "friends" ride away up the hill, without a backward glance.
3) Getting a pretty good push up a hill by a single who didn't want to go round; may offend some stokers but we actually appreciated it at the time.
About 1 in 100 suckers will ask for the privilege, so don't be surprised when they don't. Interestingly, I've come across a lot of single riders who get very upset if I draft them without asking (or even if I do ask). Especially annoying when they complain after drafting me for 3 miles then sprinting by in an attempt to drop me.
If there's a touch of wheels, the rear rider goes down. If you're riding tandem up front, you probably won't even feel it. If you draft, it's your responsibility to stay safe. Even when you are tired, you are probablya lot more stable on the tandem than the average single.
"Wow you guys sure break a lot of wind!"
Last edited by tredlodz; 05-13-11 at 07:49 AM.
Reason: spelling