Useful definitions for the purpose of this survey:
For clarification, the 'Captain' or pilot is the person who usually sits at the front of a conventional upright tandem but who could end up sitting behind the 'Stoker' if they ride a semi-recumbent tandem. The 'Stoker' is the person who usually sits at (one of) the rear saddle(s) of a tandem, triplet, quad, etc., i.e., the one in the back. For anyone who is a "switch hitter" that captains and stokes, pick the answer that "best describes" your most frequent role.
Significant Other: Significant other (sig ot or SO) is a gender-blind, politically correct term to refer to a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about his or her marital status or sexual orientation. It is also vague enough to avoid offence from using a term that an individual might consider inappropriate (e.g. lover when she considers him a boyfriend, or girlfriend when he considers her a life partner).
Spouse: In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.
And/or Logical disjunction (usual symbol or) is a logical operator that results in true if either of the operands is true. Or, in other words, a phrase used to indicate that one or more of the stated cases may occur. For example, the sentence "Jim will eat cake, pie, and/or brownies" indicates that although Jim may eat any of the three listed desserts, the choices are not necessarily exclusive; Jim may eat one, two, or all three of the choices.
Note: It would appear that at least 4 respondents indicated "significant other" who are, in fact, married to their significant other. Therefore, to properly correlate the results with the original intent of the 10 possible answers, the 2nd response count should be decremented by 4 and the 3rd response count increased by 4, e.g.,
captain who rides with significant other: 26 - 4 = 22 (22/82* = 26.82%)
captain who rides with spouse and/or other family members: 49 + 4 = 53 (53/82* = 64.63%)
*Data as of 11:00pm EST, 10 March and adjusted for non-tandem owners (-4).
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I noticed that there have been two polls in two years where pretty much "anyone can play". In the first conducted back in Dec '05, there were a total of 44 respondents. In the more recent "do you ride in or out of phase", at last check there were 66 respondents. From this I
could probably assume that there are about 66 "regulars" who read and sometimes post to the forum.
But, rather than simply assuming, I thought I'd give readers just one more poll where just about anyone can cast a vote and be counted. So, here now is a poll that looks to see just who's out there and how they see themselves relative to life situations and tandems.