Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
We hardly talk at all except for route questions and directions. Stoker navigates, Captain operates the bike. Everything else is habit and pedal feel. Exception is that Captain counts 1, 2, 3 pedal strokes before we stand.
I was basically going to comment along the same lines in regard to "pedal feel" and "standing." Other than our non-bike-related chitter-chatter, I rarely call out anything else unless I happen to see a bump in the road or something out of the ordinary. We've been tandeming for 35+ years, and for whatever reason my wife (stoker) has been a natural on the bike since day one. She just has a very good feel for when I shift, brake, stop/start pedaling, etc., etc. I would suppose that it's perfectly okay to come up with a list of instructions for a stoker who's never ridden a tandem before, but I guess I've never felt the need to do so myself.