Author Topic: Stoker on the phone  (Read 4183 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Stoker on the phone
« on: 10 April, 2017, 12:52:06 am »

Sat in a cafe in Amsterdam today I noticed a Tandem cycle past, two young women riding it. Both pedalling away, but the stoker was happily chatting away on her phone, both hands off the bars.

This got me wondering. What other activities have people found their stoker up to while cycling along on the tandem?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #1 on: 10 April, 2017, 05:50:26 am »
Non-comprehensive list:

-Digging into captain's pockets for food,
-Reading route sheet pinned on captain's back
-Spreading sunscreen
-Shouting insanities at people who shout "She's not pedalling at the back"

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #2 on: 10 April, 2017, 07:55:22 am »
- Using bidons to discourage chasing dogs. Also water fights with small children.
- Waving arms about to stop dive-bombing magpies.
- Doing yoga stretches during long rides.
- On a friend's four-seater tandem, performing old dance arm movements in a Kali-esque fashion.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #3 on: 10 April, 2017, 08:04:20 am »
Anything but pedalling!

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #4 on: 10 April, 2017, 01:07:42 pm »
Having witnessed Butterfly doing Jazz Hands behind Clarion's back I can imagine that

Anything but pedalling!

is quite possible. In her defense TLD was in a trailer behind and there had just been one pass that was a little too close for comfort.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #5 on: 10 April, 2017, 01:13:49 pm »
I have form for distracting the captain by projecting shadowpuppet wowbadgers on the road in front with a head torch...

Banging coconut shells together is one that should be encouraged.

And of course the old favourite: Bickering.

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #6 on: 10 April, 2017, 01:53:06 pm »
My Stoker has a game called "hands or stands?" in which I have to guess whether he's riding no hands or standing up.

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #7 on: 10 April, 2017, 02:40:13 pm »
I have to remind Mrs O to pedal harder sometimes on our e-assisted Moulton tandem. As the effort sensor is in her bottom bracket rather than mine (ooer!), it's quite crucial.

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #8 on: 10 April, 2017, 02:57:15 pm »
Reading.
As in, he took a book along.

I think I've done everything suggested thus far, and more.


Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #9 on: 10 April, 2017, 02:57:24 pm »
Mrs. Wow quite often turns round to give approaching drivers the Hard Stare or telling them to wait before overtaking. It is quite effective.

A lady who occasionally used to stoke for me and is, sadly, not often to be found in this parish now, had a very disconcerting habit of fondling my bum in a manner which might have been an accident other than for the frequency with which it happened. I have to confess* that I never once asked her to stop...

Nutkin and I were touring in Norfolk a few years ago and one day it was necessary for the tandem to be eased through a small gap. The stoker's bars caught a post on the way through and turned at right-angles, my saddle of course going with them. It took a good long time for my dear stoker to regain her composure, such was the fit of the giggles that this eventuality evoked.

*a wonderful word for students of French
The loss of humanity I could live with.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #10 on: 10 April, 2017, 03:00:51 pm »
Reading.
As in, he took a book along.


The Girl did this on the Pino.  The Pino has a stoker freewheel, which allows either no stoker pedalling or keeping the pedals ticking over without that pesky giveaway ratchet sound.  Her book was removed from her care at the coffee stop so she could concentrate on Bloody Pedalling.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #11 on: 10 April, 2017, 03:22:44 pm »
I first encountered a tandem when I joined my first club and we had a treasure hunt. The tandem simply ride away from us all; at every clue, while we stopped to note the answer, the stoker just wrote on her husband's back while they kept going

I have read of stokers who would happily sit up and photograph the view at 40mph on the way down an Alp.

Morat

  • I tried to HTFU but something went ping :(
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #12 on: 10 April, 2017, 06:57:25 pm »
I've videoed a chain gang from the stoker's seat. Some smiled as we passed, some didn't.
Everyone's favourite windbreak

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #13 on: 10 April, 2017, 07:01:22 pm »
There should be a prize for the first person to post to this thread from the stoker's seat of a moving tandem...

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #14 on: 10 April, 2017, 07:07:46 pm »
The stoker on the recumbent tandem that I occasionally guest-captained threatened to bring her knitting.

Re: Stoker on the phone
« Reply #15 on: 11 April, 2017, 10:50:13 am »
The stoker on the recumbent tandem that I occasionally guest-captained threatened to bring her knitting.


That's acceptable behaviour, as long as she keeps pedaling.