Originally Posted by
noglider
My wife and I took our first ride on our tandem yesterday...
...I heard her breathing and felt the panic, and even my heart palpitated. But after a short while, she learned to relax, and we had a good time.
Excellent! Your experience isn't all that different from ours. On our first ride we went all of five miles and felt exhausted. Sharon kept looking down at the edge of the pavement just a foot or so to her right and was terrified that I'd run off the edge of the road. She said she kept wondering why I was so close. (uh, well dear, if I move much to the left we'll be out in the road where those cars are whizzing by.)
Other tandem teams gave us some good advice. The psychology can be tougher than the physical demands. The stoker has to yield ALL control to the captain because there is nothing the stoker can do except stoke. Some people have a hard time with that at first. It requires the stoker to have complete faith in the captain's handling of the bike. Of course the captain has to live up to that expectation.
Rule number one: Keep the bike safe.
Rule number two: Keep the stoker happy!
If the stoker ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
That sounds like a nice ride you had, good distance, nice concert. Pretty cool! Nice pic too, with the red against the red.
About those gears, I dunno'. We rarely use out highest gear, a rather conventional 52/14, probably use it maybe once per ride. Sharon used to wish I'd slow down on the downhills but now she like going fast. I suppose it depends on the bike too.