When I was 4 my cousin put me on the back of a full size Schwinn tandem and my foot immediately got caught in the spokes. When I was 8 or 9 I think my mom put me on the back of a tandem at a lakefront resort with no traumatic repercussions (unlike the tennis lessons).

Then 5 years ago I volunteered to spend an afternoon riding blind students from the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind around a nearby park. That was a very nice experience. I rode three different bikes. One had bad brakes and a poor drive train. One was okay, and one was really, really nice. Obviously that was a fairly low-speed affair, but it was a real revelation for me, as I had wanted to try a tandem again for decades. I definitely would not feel comfortable commuting in traffic on one at this point...maybe with practice and marriage counseling.

My wife who rides very casually on a "comfort" bike would be interested in a more upright Old Schwinn, and we did once ride a side-by-side quadra-cycle around a bay in San Diego back in 1997.

Here's me about to ride with a blond co-ed on the back:


And 23 Years ago with the wife on the quadracycle in San Diego...