Kiramarch

Ha, not yet!!

And I have an update -- we did a more hilly ride than usual yesterday, and partly because of this discussion, thought more about standing on the hills.

We decided it worked really nicely for just me to stand, especially for a last boost to get us to the top of a hill. If I was really paying attention to not rocking, we got additional power without the instability that comes with both of us standing. And if I tired myself out and had to let up when I sat, he could compensate a little better because he wasn't as spent, and keep us chugging along.

Curious to hear if others' experience matches ours!

mtnbke

I'm very curious about this discussion. Could we clarify our experiences by whether your team rides in phase or 90 degrees out of phase? We're about to try that. I can't imagine trying to stand on the tandem. Our pedaling cadences are so different.

It would be nice though. On my single I'm out of the saddle a lot just kind of burst coast burst coast. That doesn't work on the tandem at all, and I feel so much "heavier" on the tandem on the saddle.

waynesulak

Except at speeds over 25-30 mph we rarely coast. Kind of like riding a single speed. When pedaling we find smooth is best. As a team we get the most power with smooth pedaling otherwise it feels like we are fighting each other and it wears on our motivation.

colotandem

When we stand, most always it is separately. I find that when we both stand, I shift down a gear or two, but we tend to spin out of that gear too fast. So we take turns. It is generally on long climbs or during a really long ride (4-6 hrs) and you just need a butt break. Stoker calls out that she'd like to stand, I assess our cadence and terrain in front of us and shift accordingly and say go. She stands for a certain amount of time (to her liking) and usually calls out some object up the road (like a street sign, tree, marking in the road etc.) and she sits at that point. I will then stand while she recovers. Sometimes I'll drop another gear when I stand. The longer the climb, the more often we will stand (especially towards the top).

It works well for us. We CAN stand together, but choose not to. I just don't like how much our cadence goes up when we both stand.

We do stand together (coasting) over train tracks and to stretch on downhills when we spin out of gear.

I think you will find that there is not a "right way" to do this whole tandem thing. Do what works for your team! We've been at it for over 10 years now and know what works for us. We are up out of the saddle a lot more when we ride off road, so that is a different thing altogether. I do find that we need to make time to stand when we are on the road bike. I think on the road tandem, you just don't get out of the saddle like you would naturally on a single bike, so you need to make it happen.

waynesulak

I agree that everyone must find what works for their team. My stoker hates it when I stand alone and she never wants to do it. We have settled on shifting up a couple gears before standing and then shifting up while standing to keep the cadence down. Our problem is my stoker gets in the red zone pretty quick while standing. We don't long climbs here so it works out OK with stands on short sharp hills.

StephenH

When I first started on the tandem, I'd stand, stoker would stand, but not at the same time, and always felt really weird. Finally, we got brave enough to stand at the same time, and discovered that was easier than either one of us standing alone. So it's not always what you think.
Stoker #1 made the observations that teams that could stand together were usually better climbers.
Stoker #2 never stands- she can, just chooses not to, and does fine. I stand when I feel like it, usually for butt breaks on long rides rather than climbing efficiency, and no problem. And yes, you figure out that if you flop the bike to the side with a stoker on it, it doesn't want to come back, so you just don't flop the bike side to side when you stand.

Part of the stand/not stand issue is whether you're a masher or a spinner- easier for me to stand at a low cadence, but we don't normally climb at a low cadence, relatively, either.

A friend of mine says she rode a tandem with a guy a few times. First time he stood, she stood cause she just assumed that's how things were done, and it worked fine. So don't overthink it.

Alcanbrad

We have been practicing me standing and pedaling, but we were not yet confident enough to use it while climbing. I believe that it will be possible for me to be able to stand on climbs while she remains seated.

We tackled our big climb this past week, about 1400 ft climb of Brandon Gap in Vermont (https://www.strava.com/activities/362707405). Not a huge climb as climbs go, and not a big one for me personally, but a huge climb for my wife/stoker. We are 400 lb team and this climb was daunting for her. We did it! I am happy and proud of her accomplishment.

Thanks everyone for the hints and advice! We'll keep at it.

colotandem

Congrats! and keep it up!