TandemGeek

Conditioning and “time in the saddle” are definitely considerations. We who are the “cyclists” in the family often time take for granted how well our base miles serve us until we’re off the bike for a few weeks or months and have to re-acclimate our posteriors and bodies to the rigors of riding an upright road racing bicycle (an inherently uncomfortable contraption). For spouses and companions who are not seasoned cyclists, the “breaking-in” period can be a distressing process. Patience and perseverance are sometimes the only thing required to bridge the comfort gap. However, that said…

Make sure there's not too much bouncing going on with her seatpost. While a "cushy ride" might seem to be a good idea it's really hard on your body when your riding position remains in constant flux and your lower back remains in constant motion.

Make sure she's properly fitted for her riding position. It was really hard for me to convince Debbie that riding in a more aggressive position was actually more comfortable over the long-haul than being more upright. My instruction proved correct and even provided the “need” to have a custom tandem made that gave her extra room in the back. Seriously, without assuming anything about your knowledge of bike fitting, I can’t stress enough how critical it is for her riding position to be spot-on with regard to saddle set-back (usually compromised when adjusting the stoker’s reach on a tandem) and tilt.

As for the saddle, wider is better except for the most aggressive female riders who seem to adapt well to the really narrow men’s saddles. The Selle Italia GelFlow (formerly TransAm) womens model is one of the widest models available and, like the Terry saddles, has garnered positive feedback from many of its female users. Debbie worked her way through four or five saddles before we stumbled on the very wide womens’ Selle Italia model with the anatomic cut-out and she’s been very pleased with it going on two years and 8k miles now.

Lastly, don't forget to take "butt breaks" when you ride. New tandem teams tend to spend nearly all their riding time in the saddle. For stokers who stay clipped in all the time -- which I recommend and which most stokers do -- they don't even get the short break that captains do at brief stops for intersections, etc... Constantly being seated can truly be a "pain in the ass". When we ride bikes by ourselves we tend to "stand" more often for a variety of reasons without even thinking about it so it's not always obvious why the tandem is more brutal. Therefore, try to make a point of taking a butt-break (stand and coast for a few hundred feet or pedal out of the saddle if you can) at least every 15 minutes or so. I usually set my alarm watch to do 10 or 15 minute count-downs so we're reminded to drink regularly and to take butt breaks. It makes all of the difference in the world.