Every once in a while I’ll see it, and it amazes me every time: two people, usually in a relationship, riding the same bike. This fall as two friends and I grunted up a steep climb we caught up to a husband and wife team on a tandem mountain bike.
“Where are they going?” I wondered. “It looks like there’s only one way to go,” my friend replied. I was having a hard enough time getting my mass up the dirt wall and I couldn’t imagine trying to ride it on a tandem bike.
Not only is the challenge of putting energy into the same bike present, but the relationship dynamics are there too for better or worse and you’d better trust the person with the lead handlebars. I’m not convinced yet that tandem riding is for me and I don’t think my partner is interested either. What about you?
If you answered yes, tell us if you were the stoker or the captain in the comments below.
