First time captains should not try riding with a stoker until they have practiced riding solo on the tandem to get used to the general feel.

A good starting technique is important with a tandem. You will not be able to ride in a straight line at as slow as speed as you can on a solo, at least not until you have many tandem miles behind you. Therefore, it is important that you learn to “get up to speed” quickly. Since the tandem is so much heavier, it cannot accelerate quickly without the cooperation of both riders.

Many solo riders get away with poor starting technique, but you have much less margin for error with a tandem.

Starting a Tandem

Captain:
1. Stand astride the frame, both feet on the ground, tandem straight up.
2. Spread your feet apart and brace the top tube of the tandem against one leg for added stability. Your feet should be far enough apart that the stoker will be able to rotate the pedals without banging into your shins.
3. Lock the brakes to that the tandem will not roll while the stoker mounts.

Stoker:
While keeping your weight centered over the tandem as much as you can:
4. Turn the nearer pedal to the bottom position, use it as a step.
5. Lift yourself into the saddle, place other foot on its pedal.
6. Clip in, tighten straps or do anything else you need to do to get ready to pedal.
7. Rotate the pedals to the starting position preferred by the captain.
8. Let the captain know you are ready to go.

Captain:
Put your foot on the high pedal, then press down hard. This will simultaneously:
o Let you use the pedal as a step to lift yourself high enough to get onto the saddle...and:
o Apply driving force to the chain, causing the tandem to pick up speed.
Don't coast to try to clip in or click in until the tandem is well up to speed; it is tough enough to balance at low speed without trying to find a balky toeclip at the same time.

Stoker:
Give it all you've got to get the tandem up to speed quickly.
Once the tandem is at maneuvering speed, your captain may need to coast to get clipped in, so be ready.
This may seem complicated, but with a bit of practice it becomes second nature. This technique will ensure safe, smooth fast starts.

Stopping a Tandem

Stopping technique is pretty much the reverse of starting up, but there are a couple of things to watch out for:

Captain:
Remember that you have to balance both the tandem and the stoker, while the stoker dismounts. The most common mistakes are:

• Letting the tandem lean too far to the side, so that you cannot hold up the weight of the stoker.
• Not having your feet far enough apart to support the stoker.
• Not unclipping your second foot soon enough, and toppling over onto that side.

Stoker:
Keep your weight centred in line with the tandem's frame. An unexpected wiggle while the tandem is coming to a stop, and before the captain's feet are well braced on the ground can dump you!

Normally, you should not take your feet out of the pedals until the captain says to do so (although this is not a hard-and-fast rule; sometimes an alert stoker can save a captain's bacon by putting a foot down at the right time!)

Cadence

The typical tandem team will include one rider who is a highly experienced, fairly hard-core cyclist, and another who is less experienced and less skillful. Let us imagine a couple. One is a hard-core cyclist, the other a much more casual cyclist, if a cyclist at all, but they would like to share the experience of tandemming together. Since their riding style and conditioning level is different, there has to be some give and take.

One of tbe major problem areas is likely to be "cadence", that is, the question of how fast to turn the pedals. Since the more experienced cyclist is probably going to be the captain, they will get to choose the cadence, by determining which gear to use at any given time. Since they are an experienced cyclist, they will probably prefer a rather fast cadence. A fairly fast cadence is known to be more efficient.

Unfortunately, the less experienced of the two may not be used to spinning this fast. Their legs can't keep up with the preferred spin rate. This will cause considerable discomfort.

It is the experienced teams members responsibility to make the other happy and comfortable, so the experienced member needs to consider the inexperienced members preferences when selecting gears. The inexperienced member, in turn, should understand that it is worthwhile learning to spin a bit faster, because it really is the better technique.

With practice and patience, most couples can work this out on a standard tandem. For those who can't there is a technological fix.

Coasting

In addition to cadence issues, a tandem team needs to deal with the coasting issue. On a standard tandem, both riders must pedal, or both must coast. If one wants to coast while the other wants to pedal, this is not an option unless you have an exotic tandem.

As a general rule, less experienced cyclists coast much more often than experienced cyclists. A beginner may coast due to fear of high speed, discomfort with a rapid cadence, fatigue, or just habit. More experienced cylcists learn that it is better to keep the legs moving, even when not applying a lot of force to the pedals, because it maintains the rider's rhythm and keeps the legs from stiffening up.

One of the main areas where the semi-mystical communication occurs between members of a tandem team that has ridden together a lot is that the coasting question gradually disappears, and you will find yourself coasting and resuming pedaling without anything being said, or any obvious signal being passed.

Usually, the coasting issue will resolve itself mainly by the less experienced cyclist acquiring more experience, and breaking the habit of excessive coasting.

Sometimes a compromise on gear choice or speed can help eliminate conflicts about coasting. Since the beginner's urge to coast is often activated by fear of excessive speed, slowing down will help. If one rider is coasting too much because the cadence is getting uncomfortably high, a shift to a higher gear can eliminate this problem.

Standing

One of the more advanced skills of tandeming is standing up and "honking" for an extra burst of power. This is not something to try until you have gone past the beginner stage as a tandem team. Standing smoothly requires that both riders coordinate their movements with one another. In particular, the stoker should avoid drastic sideward movements (always good practice anyway.) Some riders throw the tandem sharply from side to side as the push on first one pedal, then the other; others have a smoother style, and stay centreed over the tandem even when out of the saddle.

Most solo tandem riders stand too much; many very good riders almost never do stand. Riders who stand a lot often do so either because they have their saddles set too low, or because they are in too high a gear.
Most tandemists find standing together easier if the cranks are set up in phase.

Common incorrect techniques include:

• The Cowboy Mount, which involves standing next to the tandem, putting one foot on a pedal, then swinging the other leg over the saddle while the tandem is in motion. Try this on a tandem, and you'll kick your stoker in the head!
• The Shuffle Mount, which involves standing on the low pedal, and trying to get the tandem in motion by pushing off against the ground with the other foot...you can't get a tandem up to maneuvering speed this way!