[Sportsandrec] The Proper Method, by Bill McCready of Santana Tandems

[Fred's ol' XP]

Hi all,
Annamarie's note reminded me of the essay below.  Captains need not 
be heavier or have strong upper bodies.  Some of my favorite captains 
were/are thin gals.  The stoker gets more air behind a skinny 
captains, and I find that women smell better. Three of my women 
captains weigh in the 105-lb range.  (My wife was 105-lbs, and I 
was  in the low 140's:  we were smoking fast!)  The key to holding a 
tandem is to use the thigh.  Read below!

Below is a link to (and the text follows) the rules of tandeming.
Bill McCready is one of the minds behind Santana Tandems.
As a stoker, I've been dropped countless times by novice captains on 
dirt, gravel, in streams, and on most types of pavement.  I've never 
been seriously injured on a tandem, but broke at-least one cell phone 
when I hit the pavement.  I no-longer carry a phone in my jersey, but 
hide it under the seat or in a pannier.  I usually give this little 
guide to my captains.  I think they usually read it after the first ride.
Hahahaheeheehaw!
Fred

www.gtgtandems.com/tech/propmethod.html




The Proper Method






by Bill McCready

Should my stoker continue to put a foot down at signals and/or help 
to launch my tandem from a stop?

Bill's Primary Rule of Tandeming settles this and most related 
questions. It's very simple. Only five words to remember. After 
discovering The Method nearly thirty years ago, I perfected the 
present wording of Bill's Primary Rule of Tandeming a few years 
later. Use it to settle all tandem disputes. Are you ready? The next 
line you read is Bill's Primary Rule of Tandeming:

The Stoker makes no mistakes.

 From this primary rule virtually all other points of tandem 
etiquette can be derived.

Actually Bill's Primary Rule of Tandeming sounds better when you put 
a dramatic pause between the third and fourth words:

The Stoker makes... ... no mistakes.

I was never in the Navy, but I've been told if a steersman runs the 
ship aground while the Captain is asleep in his bunk, it's the 
captain's fault. My rule of tandeming is one step better. Instead of 
fixing the blame on a tandem's captain, my rule simply absolves the 
stoker. When a problem does occur, a tandem captain is invited to 
attempt to shift the blame to such things as traffic, terrain, 
equipment, atmospheric conditions or even planetary alignment. But 
pox on any captain who would ever be so wrong-headed as to malign a stoker!

(This from someone who has ridden as captain and stoker with 
thousands of partners.)

What does this have to do with starting and stopping? Plenty. Stokers 
aren't responsible for balancing the bike (why should they be?). 
Asking a stoker to put a foot down when they can't control the brakes 
is expecting too much. Having them help with the re-launch when they 
can't steer is even w orse. Besides, once you eventually come to 
truly believe "the stoker makes no mistakes" it becomes clear that 
stopping and starting the tandem is not their problem.

And while I hope this posting causes readers to smile... I am NOT 
joking. If you want me as a stoker (and I'm a good one) don't expect 
me to uncleat at signals and don't give me any brake levers. As a 
stoker I pedal, contribute to worthwhile conversations and (when 
advised) provide hand signals . If you're not abusive and ask nicely, 
I'll advise you of traffic or tell you what gear you're in. And if 
you overlook the occasional misdirection, I'll even agree to help 
navigate. But please don't presume that I can somehow choose a line 
through a corner, assertively weave though traffic, se lect the 
proper gear or stop the bike at a signal. Face facts--I can't steer 
or see the road in front of the front tire. In short, it isn't my job 
to "drive the bike" and I therefore refuse to take responsibility.

Some people might think The Method demeans stokers. Bull. The best 
tandem teams are not composed of riders who somehow crimp their 
individual styles enough to coexist on a two-seated bike with only 
one set of controls. The best tandem teams are TEAMS where each rider 
appreciates their individua l role and responsibility.

And this is especially true if you ride with a spouse. When the 
average married man strikes his thumb with a hammer, he immediately 
blames his wife. Wives, because of superior intelligence, soon learn 
to leave a room when husbands open a toolbox.

So two decades ago, when I bought a bike shop and started introducing 
married couples to tandems, I soon realized that the method I had 
developed long before marriage (I bought my Parsons racing tandem 
before my sixteenth birthday) was truly The Method for married 
couples. If you want your stoker to continue to ride tandem with you, 
don't EVER point the finger of blame. And the best way to avoid 
blaming your stoker is to start by understanding that it really isn't 
ever their fault: The Stoker makes no mistakes.

Because of dozens of lectures I've presented at tradeshows, rallies 
and dealer meetings over the past fifteen years, The Method is now 
taught to most beginning couples when they visit an American 
specialty shop (Malcolm is from the UK). The very first sentence of 
my riding instructions to beginni ng couples may help illustrate my 
central theme of this posting: "The captain straddles the bike with 
legs spread wide and locks the brakes." I then explain that a captain 
needs to remember to do this so a stoker won't knock them over or 
roll the bike forward as they climb aboard. I then tell the captain 
that if he forgets these instructions and, as a result, is goosed by 
his saddle and falls onto his top tube, it's not the stoker's fault.

After I'm sure the captain understands that his backside and family 
jewels are at risk, I continue with: "And the captain must keep their 
legs spread until the stoker has both feet in the clips." At this 
point I turn to the prospective captain and say, "Let's see if you're 
still with me on this. Whose fault do you suppose it is if the pedals 
somehow spin around and bloody your shins?"

So I'm sorry if John Schubert bowdlerized my instructions when he 
wrote "The Tandem Scoop." Do I believe John was restating my 
instructions? Absolutely. I remember when John visited Bud's Bike 
Shop in 1981 and learned The Method. My memory is especially vivid 
because I was Schubert's first stoke r. A year later John purchased 
his first tandem (a classic marathon-style Santana) which he still 
rides with his lovely wife, Anne. John and I have argued tandems 
often through the years and I sincerely was honored when he mailed me 
an inscribed copy of his excellent book. I recommend it highly .

Exceptions (?) to The Proper Method

I've received nearly 50 responses to "The Proper Method." I'm glad 
most of you enjoyed it. A very few respondents wanted to insist upon 
or ask about exceptions to Bill's Primary Rule of Tandeming: "The 
Stoker makes no mistakes." Here are some additional thoughts:

John Dante correctly remembered a further portion of The Proper 
Method from when I taught him to ride a tandem at a rally some years 
ago. This has to do with using your hip to hold the bike in a more 
vertical position. I omitted this from my earlier brief (by my 
standards) posting--since a lot o f you seem to be enjoying this 
thread, here's a further portion of my instructions to new tandem riders.

My test-ride sequence includes a short ride with the each customer. I 
always ride with the prospective stoker first and 98% of the time 
this is the wife/girlfriend. During a pleasant ten-minute ride I make 
it a point to warn women "guys develop bad habits while riding single bikes."

After we've finished her test ride, it's his turn to be my stoker. I 
ask her to stand-by and watch while we get started. After repeating 
the basic "here's how the captain gets on the bike" demonstration I 
gave ten minutes earlier, I tell him he must get on the same way his 
wife did earlier--by p utting a foot on one pedal and swinging the 
other foot directly onto the opposite pedal--like getting on a horse.

When the husband is totally clipped-in (if he's wearing cleated 
shoes, I'll insist he lock-in), I ask him to raise the left pedal 
halfway for me. As soon as the pedal is cocked I turn to his wife 
standing next to us on the curb and say, "Remember how I warned you 
that guys develop bad habits from riding a single bike?" As she nods 
I raise my left foot to the pedal and slowly start to lean the bike 
to the right.

"I don't know why," I state (as the bike leans further) "but for some 
strange reason guys always want to..."

At this point I'm usually interrupted by frantic movement from a 
panicked stoker, who more often than not, has managed to free his 
right foot and plant it on the ground. I calmly turn to him and say, 
"Stokers are supposed to leave their feet in the pedals--go ahead and 
clip back in, I won't drop you."

After he hesitantly reholsters his foot, I turn back to the wife and 
continue from the beginning... "Remember how I warned you that guys 
develop bad habits from riding a single bike?" She smiles as I again 
start to tilt the tandem towards my right foot. By now she 
understands my joke and struggl ing to control her composure while 
her husband fights panic on a bike that's leaning ever-further 
earthward. "I don't know why," I continue "but for some strange 
reason guys always want to lean a bike waaaayyyyyy over before they 
start to ride. And if you're the stoker, it feels like the captain is 
going to drop you. But you shouldn't worry when he does this to 
you--and he will do this to you--it only FEELS like he's going to 
drop you. Of course I didn't do this to you when you were on the 
tandem because there's a technique a captain can use to get started 
without leaning the bike. An d once I'm sure I've gotten your 
husband's attention--have I got your attention back there? --I'll 
demonstrate the proper technique."

Because the tandem is now leaned at a precarious angle, husbands are 
invariably eager to learn my no-lean starting technique.

What is this technique? Simply use your hip to anchor the top tube.

Captains should NEVER EVER rely on arm and shoulder strength to hold 
up their stoker: doing so causes you to need to lean the tandem, 
which in turn causes the stoker to want to put their foot down. Fear 
or mistrust--NOT a sense of teamwork--is the real inspirations for 
those stokers who unclip at stops.

(In the following lesson I'll continue to follow the customary 
practice of left-footed starts--If you lead with your right foot, 
simply exchange my rights and lefts).

After a stoker signals their readiness by proffering the captain's 
left pedal (my techniques for tandeming don't require verbal 
commands, questions or answers), the captain changes from the 
"spread-em" position (to keep his shins from being bloodied) to the 
one-foot-in-pedal position. The correct way to do this is for the 
captain to bring his right foot closer to the centerline of the bike, 
then, after shifting all his weight to his right foot, he lifts his 
left foot up onto the pedal while simultaneously dropping his left 
hip onto the top tube. The captain now shifts 90% of his weight t o 
the left hip. The bike is leaned only very slightly (maybe 5 
degrees?) and the right foot remains flat on the ground. If you're 
going to remain in this position for more than a couple of seconds, 
slide your hip back along the top tube until the nose of your saddle 
is wedged to the outboard edg e of your left jersey pocket. If you've 
done this correctly (and it may take a little bit of practice), you 
should now be able to take your hands completely off the bars. The 
tandem can't fall to your left because the top tube can't pass 
through your leg, and the wedged saddle keeps the bike fro m falling 
to your right. The trick is to use the weight of your body (through 
your hip), and not your strength (through your arms) to secure the 
bike. Because the bike is anchored mid-frame instead of being held by 
pivoting bars at the forward end, the stoker can now do handstands on 
the rear sa ddle without knocking you over. While relative weight is 
a consideration, as long as your stoker doesn't exceed twice your 
weight, holding them up should not be a problem.

In fact, when I captained my Santana Quint with fellow members of the 
Claremont City Council (three of the four didn't even own a bike), 
combined stoker weight topped 750 pounds. We started with nine feet 
in the pedals and only my right foot on the ground. Because we rode 
in parades, there were lots of starts and stops. My four stokers not 
only left their eight feet in the toe straps, they were free to turn 
and wave to the crowds with both hands. If we had fallen in front of 
hundreds of constituents, whose fault would it have been?

Answer: The Stoker(s) make no mistakes.

Teams who "prefer" putting two feet on the ground at stops invariably 
do so because the captain has never mastered The Proper Technique. A 
captain who anticipates the stoker's assistance will retain bad 
habits learned from riding a single-bike. When a captain leans the 
tandem at every stop, the stoker reflexively puts a foot on the 
ground. Does a stoker do this through a sense of teamwork? Nope, it's 
self-preservation.

A couple of respondents believe The Proper Technique was developed to 
overcome stoker ineptitude. Others may think it's a plot to feed a 
captain's insatiable hunger for control. Nothing could be further 
from the truth. The Proper Technique was developed by all-male 
go-fast tandem teams as a com petitive strategy to beat racers on 
single bikes. When I first started riding tandems, the guys I rode 
with all wore slippery-soled racing shoes with nailed-on cleats. With 
toe clips and old-fashioned cleated shoes it was necessary to reach 
down and loosen two toe straps before removing our feet . After 
starting we not only had to coast to get our feet in the clips, we 
had to then reach down and tighten both straps before sprinting. Here 
near LA, where long portions of our training routes had a traffic 
signal on every corner, a tandem with two cleated riders simply 
couldn't keep up with singles in stop-and-sprint traffic. Initially, 
leaving the stoker strapped-in was a daring riding technique reserved 
for coordinated teams. Once we mastered The Proper Technique, we 
realized it's easier and safer than the obvious method used previously.

Safer? Absolutely. Because stokers can't see the ground or accurately 
gauge the exact instant the tandem will come to a complete stop, 
stokers will (sooner or later) misjudge a landing and make a misstep. 
And if the captain was depending on the coordinated effort of the 
stoker, the team will tumble to the pavement. While most teams will 
someday fall over at a stoplight no matter which method they use, 
this incident is far less common with teams who don't rely on 
coordinated efforts.

But the best reason to use The Proper Method is not to win stoplight 
sprints or to avoid superficial scrapes and bruises. The best reason 
for the stoker to stay clipped-in is so both riders understand 
exactly whose responsibility it is to control the bike. Without this 
demarcation, in a moment of pain and embarrassment the average 
captain (like the average husband who hits his thumb with a hammer) 
might lash out at his stoker. There are hundreds of husbands with 
wives who no longer ride their tandem--avoidable mishaps and 
misplaced blame are problems all tandem riding couples should work to avoid.

This is why an inseperable relationship exists between The Proper 
Technique and "The Stoker makes no mistakes." It's impossible to 
absolve the stoker of all blame when the stoker's efforts are 
required at every stop.

Are there any exceptions to Bill's Primary Rule of Tandeming?

Nope. Not one.

If you think you've discovered an exception to "The Stoker makes no 
mistakes," I'm certain a closer examination will reveal a captain who 
should've known better.