Originally Posted by Smooooth

Great point Marco. I would like to shed light on another paceline challenge for tandems. This is the fact that the stoker cannot see what is happening. This leaves most of the initial effort of covering the gaps on the captain. Example: I see the gap, I accelerate and ask for "power", Sassy gives it, we cover, I ask her to ease up. It really takes great communication and experience to perfect this part of tandem riding.

I really learned my lesson one day when we took a team ride up to Davis. It was a very fast 90 mile ride, 19 mph average. We pacelined, I covered the gaps and only asked for power when I couldn't quite do it on my own. I was really trashed at the 70 mile mark and started asking for power to cover. It was too late. We made it, but it was a lesson learned.