tandem and stoker with autism

Question

I am thinking of buying a tandem for my special needs adolescent son to encourage more purposeful movement and purposeful movement stamina. He can easily ride a bike and biking has become quite relaxing and automatic.

Recently, he has tried a tandem as a stoker which he seemed to manage. I am always looking for challenges where he has to "think" with his body as opposed to his usual default of being impulsive with his movement. From my research, a stoker has to be relaxed but must respond among other things to the captain's movements.

My questions are:

1. Does the role of stoker encourage a calm mind but also demand that his reactions be purposeful
2. Does the role of stoker become a passive activity or does it continue to be quite an active role. ( With autism, often they have issues with calmness and purposeful movement).

I hope that I am making sense. Thanks!

Answer 1

My wife and I are learning to ride a tandem right now. It's considerably different from riding a single bike. I've been captaining (normally the captain is the more experienced rider).

One big difference is the need for the captain to communicate everything. Starting, stopping, turning, shifting, coasting, bumps. The stoker can see some of these coming, so they might not need to be communicated (e.g. "we're on a hill, our cadence has dropped, I'm obviously about to shift").

There are little things you don't necessarily think about: I push off with my left leg, my wife pushes off with her right. On a tandem, the captain's preference wins. Braking is a lot worse, and it can be nerve-wracking for the stoker; conversely, the captain is responsible for the stoker's safety, and that can be nerve-wracking for the captain. Getting on and off the bike is a scripted series of steps. Pushing off takes a lot of coordination, and you only get one stab at the pedal. Apart from some exotic tandems (including the Pino, as mentioned above; there are other companies that make the semi-recumbent design), if one rider is pedaling, the other must pedal too.

My impression is that the stoker's role is passive, except when it isn't: keep your body still, do what the captain says. You don't shift, steer, or brake. Different teams deal with stops differently, but my wife doesn't even put her foot down at stops. But for pushing off, the stoker is important.

I'm not sure how much that answers your question.

Answer 2

I think it sounds like a great idea. Adam Rice covers much of what is different about riding a tandem vs. riding alone (need for constant communication primary among them). I'll focus more on your question about deliberate and purposeful actions, based on experience of a few thousand miles of tandeming.

While it might seem like the stoker is a passive rider, just following the captain's lead, this actually takes a lot of concentration and really deliberate movement planning. Unless you all are using clipless pedals, the stoker really has to concentrate on what their legs are doing, lest they get distracted, slip off the pedals, and their shins get whacked. The captain does as well -- you can't just stop pedaling to rest a bit without forewarning. My wife and I eventually solved this by going clipless, which took a lot of trust on her part, but we would never go back now.

Stopping and starting take a lot of practice and coordination. So if you want to work on purposeful movements, that will be critical for stops/starts. You could even plan routes to take advantage of this -- lots of practice starting and stopping would mean lots of purposeful movements (though we tend to look for routes that avoid stops -- cruising is much more fun).

There is also a lot of activity in trying to stay upright and balanced. My wife says she is much more tired after a couple of hours on the tandem than her touring bike. I think it uses different core muscles. I'm tired from steering an 8' long 350 pound cruising vessel.

I think you might find some of the other positives riding a tandem:

• You have to ride at the same speed, so no one feels like they can't keep up. You will often read that the stoker is always right. That's true.
• You can actually carry on a conversation without shouting or worrying about crashing into each other.
• My wife like to birdwatch and take photos. She can spot wildlife from the tandem like a pro.

Once your son gets stronger, consider letting him be the captain.

Answer 3

We have been riding (my son and I) for ten years now (40'000 miles and counting). But you know the drill - if you make it an accepted routine - you will likely have to stick to it no matter what. We, for one, ride all year round and in almost any weather conditions (heated gloves are a bless in winter - so are vacuum flasks).

In order to minimize the "pit-stop" times, we carry the extra repair stuff with us (not only spare tubes and a pump, but also a few extra chain-links & a chain-tool (in case of the timing chain failure)).