Tandem Communication

 Communication Between the Captain and the Stoker


Navigation. Turns, bumps, changing of gears, obstacles.  Sightseeing.


Communication between the Captain and Stoker is easy and fun (mostly).  Because you’re close enough to talk, there is often a running commentary from both the front and the back throughout the day - the Captain notifying the Stoker of road conditions and the Stoker commenting on the surroundings.  We’ve had lots of scenery discussions and in depth discussions on life - tough to do on two solo bikes.


Captains and Stokers come up with their own individual language for their communications, but the key point for this section is for the Captain to provide a continuous commentary on what is coming up regarding road conditions, gears and navigation.  The Stoker can then respond and support where necessary, along with pointing out the sights!


Some days it seems like all Steve says is, ‘Bump’, ‘Bump’, ‘Bump’ with a periodic ‘Suicidal Squirrel’ thrown in.  Unfortunately, just because it’s repetitive doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary.  Also, like the changing of the gears, it helps when the Captain notifies the Stoker the tiniest bit before hitting the obstacle so she can lift off the seat slightly while pedalling.



Sightseeing


Although the Stoker has a wonderful view of the Captain’s back, she cannot see any of the road in front.  She is blind to obstacles such as bumps, gravel, and holes in the road. To put it delicately, banging one’s ‘lady parts’ against a bicycle seat is an experience to be avoided at all costs.  The communication about not only gears, starting / stopping, turns, and now road conditions is the responsibility of the Captain.


Actually, like the Captain of a sailboat, the tandem Captain’s responsibility is to keep the Stoker safe - she has no sight of what is coming and is completely dependant upon the Captain for her safety. There is a huge amount of trust that a Stoker has in a Captain.


The Stoker also sees much that the Captain does not, or maybe I should say this Stoker.  My handlebars are raised so I am sitting pretty much upright and I can see everything around me except for directly in front and immediately behind.  (I tried the standard drop bars and found the pressure on my hands to be too much, they very quickly went numb so matter what position I put them in.  Also, when using drop bars, the majority of the Stoker’s view is the Captain’s lower back.  Attempting to view the surroundings with the drop bars caused a lot of pressure from tilting my head to see up and to the sides, which after hours became very painful. 


Because I can see quite a bit sitting a bit more upright, there are many things that I point out to Steve as we’re riding along.  However nice it is for him to see the sights, his job is to watch the road. To make it easy for him to quickly find what I’m talking about we use the clock method for locating objects.


The clock method works like this.  The front of the bike points to 12:00 and the rear points to 6:00, a right arm straight out is 3:00 and the left points to 9:00.  If there is something I want Steve to look at, I don’t want him to take his eyes off the road for any longer than necessary so I will say, ‘There’s a castle at 2:00.’  He knows exactly where to look.  For something higher up, I’ll say, ‘There’s a hawk, look up from 10:00.’  Quick and easy way to find things.

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