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A tandem requires a commitment from both riders. The captain has to anticipate and communicate, and the stoker has to trust the captain. I've had good and bad experiences. My son was a pretty good stoker when he was young, though he thought it was funny to soft pedal uphill. We used to do the lower part of the Mt. Wilson toll road (fire road). He was indoctrinated early though, as I towed him in a trailer starting when he was around 6 months old. My ex-wife preferred to ride her own bike - that's why I sold the road tandem and switched to mountain with a child stoker setup.
My wife *loves* riding on the back of the GS. In fact she is the one usually bugging me to go out riding. She's game riding bikes as well but doesn't have a lot of off-road handling skills (she had a nasty crash a few years ago that led to an infected wound). Going off-road on a tandem is a bit different from road, mostly due to speed and terrain. The length of the bike certainly limits riding on tight single track but it can go most other places. The whole point is to get some exercise and not have to worry about cars running us off the road. The bike path at the beach is crazy busy and not fun either. So dirt wins if you want to get a relatively safe workout.
What local shops have tandems in them? Of course I managed to tweak my lower back just getting off the bike today so this will be a slow road back...
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