lhbernhardt

The thing that bugs me the most when riding the tandem is all these clowns who remark as you pass, "Hey, the one in back isn't pedaling." (and no, we don't use the mechanism that lets the stoker freewheel) This is probably amusing (questionably) the first time, but after you hear it the umpteenth time by people thinking they are clever, you really feel like getting off and throttling them, or at least just telling them to F* off. Fortunately, my stoker is a very outgoing socially-oriented person who just says, "They're just trying to be friendly." I tend to be just the opposite - cynical, short-tempered, highly competitive, somewhat of a sociopath, and I tend to find certain types of "needling" humor to be downright offensive or insulting.

What do you experienced (socially or tandemly) people use as a rejoinder to this common cliche? The only one I can think of (after long musing), which I will use on the next occasion (sure to come soon), is "That's OK, I'm not steering." Kinda lame, but I've never been good at the quick repartee.

Thanks. - L.

72andsunny

"That's okay, I'm not steering is great". I might borrow that.

Usually, I turn around, look at my stoker and yell: "I told you to stop following me".

Radish_legs

make a crude statement suggesting "that's ok, Ill be getting <fill in the blank> tonight."

Something that is shockingly rude and distasteful.

another good one will be to spit on them, and say "well, at least she doesn't spit on people."

oldacura

"She's not pedalling back there" really gets my stoker miffed. I'll bet that most who say that have no bad intentions - they just feel compelled to say something clever & they think they're the first to come up with the saying.

It's mostly men who say "She's not pedalling". I think what gets Lisa the most is a likely common attitude among other women (single bike) cyclists that she's not pulling her weight.

I don't think there is any quick, snappy way to educate passing cyclists to the tandem experience. Its probably best just to smile and say "What a beautiful day!"

zonatandem

In our decades of tandeming we've heard it so many times, we are immune to it.
A good rejoinder is "I steer, she pedals".
It's no worse than someone tells you to 'have a nice day' or 'how are you?' when these are just rhetorical statements.
Don't get your shorts in an uproar, you can always smile/wave and say 'yeah, I know!'
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Radish_legs

actually the first time I heard someone say it to a tandem team (I've never tandemed myself), I thought it was pretty funny.

I probably repeated it myself.

Red Rider

I'm the stoker -- inclined to sassy humor -- I reply with "Shhhh - don't tell my secret!" Or, "Damn you! Now he's on to me!" Cgallagh is often too preoccupied with steering to bother replying. He lets me provide the witty banter.

To appease your sociopathic side, you might turn and snarl, "I'll have to kill her now!" Maybe that will cause more problems than it cures.

I hear "twice as easy or twice as hard?" often. My reply, "Twice as fun!"

Kill 'em with humor and niceness, that's my M.O.