|
<< Two on a Tandem: state by state
TANDEM LIFE
The Captain and the Stoker
On a tandem the one in front is the captain and the one in back is the stoker, like on an old
steamship: one steers, one shovels the coal. People ask us all the time what it's like. We each wrote our own
answer, separately, and didn't show each other until it was on the page. Laurence is in
blue. Janis is in gold.
WHO DOES WHAT
|
THE CAPTAIN: I steer, I shift, I brake, and I hold the whole thing up when we stop, which with two people's
gear on it is well over a hundred pounds of bicycle. I pick the line on the road and I see every pothole, rock,
dead skunk and goathead coming. And I have to tell Janis about each one, because she can't see any of it. The
captain's main job is talking. "Bump." "Big bump." "Coasting." "Shifting." "Stopping." "Standing up on three." If I
forget to say "bump," I hear about it.
|
|
THE STOKER: I'm the engine. I pedal. I can't steer and I can't brake, so I just pedal. I also read the map,
which is clipped to the back of Laurence's seat where I can see it and he can't. I hand the food and water forward.
I take all the pictures, because I'm the one with free hands. I watch behind us for trucks and dogs. I wave at
every single person we pass, for both of us. And I put sunscreen on the back of Laurence's neck at every stop sign,
because he forgets, and I'm the one who has to look at it.
|
THE VIEW
|
THE STOKER: The thing nobody understands until they try it is that the stoker never sees the road ahead.
For 4,250 miles I looked at the back of Laurence's blue jersey. I know every thread of it. I saw America out the
sides, which turns out to be where most of it is. I saw more than he did, honestly: the hawks, the horses, the old
man waving from his porch. Laurence saw the pavement. But I never once saw a hill coming. I'd feel the bike slow
down, and he'd say "here we go," and that was all the warning I got, from Idaho to Virginia.
|
|
THE CAPTAIN: The view from the front is fine. The view from the front coming down Hoosier Pass at 40 miles
an hour with a loaded tandem is better than fine, and also the most responsible I've ever felt. We have a drum brake
on the back wheel that I can set to drag on long descents, so the rims don't heat up, and I used it on every mountain
from the Cascades to the Blue Ridge. I could feel Janis not breathing back there on the steep ones.
|
TRUST
|
THE CAPTAIN: Tandem riders call it a "divorce machine." You can't coast unless you both coast. You can't
stop pedaling to rest unless you both rest. If one of you is tired, both of you are slow. If you're mad at each other,
you're still going to be eighteen inches apart for the rest of the day. You learn to settle things fast.
|
|
THE STOKER: I'll say this once. A woman who can't steer and can't brake, sitting behind a man going downhill
at 40, has to trust that man completely. I did, all the way across. That's the nicest thing I'll ever say about him in
public, so print it out.
|
THE ARGUMENT IN MONTANA
|
THE CAPTAIN: We had one real fight in 71 days. It was over a turn in Montana. The stoker reads the map. The
stoker said "right." I turned right. We went nine miles out of our way, mostly uphill. I rest my case.
|
|
THE STOKER: I said "right up here," meaning the next road, not the gravel driveway he swung into. I
didn't argue on the bike, because you can't argue on a tandem without falling over. I argued at the cafe, over pie.
He bought the pie. I rest mine.
|
IF YOU WANT TO TRY IT
|
THE CAPTAIN: Ride together for a year before you go anywhere far. Learn your words: decide what "bump" and
"stopping" mean and say them every time. Captains, start smoothly, shift early, and remember there's a person back
there who can't see what you see. Get the best brakes you can afford.
|
|
THE STOKER: Get a good seat. Bring a book for the long flat stretches (I'm kidding) (mostly). Learn to
read a map upside down from behind somebody's back. Keep the snacks in your jersey pockets so you control the snacks.
And pick a captain who says "bump" every time.
|
State by State · Gear, Food and Flats
[email protected]
Last updated September 25, 1999
|
GeoCities.us
» HotSprings » Trail
