Happy Face 🙂

+ It's MUCH faster on the flat and downhill (50% faster on the flat, we travel 30km/h instead of 20km/h)

+ It's marginally faster up hills (10-20% faster depending on gradient, or: 6-7km/h @ 11%; 7-9km/h @ 8%; 9-10km/h @ 5%; and 11-15km/h @ 3%)

+ No more shouting to be heard or having to ask the other to repeat what they just said (sometimes four times!)

+ We accommodate each other's rest periods, cancelling out the lag of a normal rest period

+ Every second car beeps to us to say 'hi'

+ If we're waiting at the traffic lights, we are the first to leave because everybody else is too busy staring at us and not the green traffic light.

+ Conversation starter, attention grabber

Sad Face 🙁

– More difficult to manoeuvre through tight spaces. We think of it more like a semi-trailer truck than a bike. 3- point turns sometimes a necessity.

– Much harder to park and take up and down curbs and steps.

– Riding below 8km/h (or 8%+ gradient) is MUCH more difficult for Alex to balance the tandem, focussing less energy into his legs. Alex sees this as a problem on steep, off road sections of our trip, but hopefully will adapted by then.

– We are often riding uphill in a much heavier gear than Kat is used to.