SO the other week I hitched up my lovely white dress, jumped on the back of the tandem and literally got hitched.

Me and the hubby cycled tandem through the streets of Oxford, before and after our wedding ceremony, and luckily came away unscathed by the dreaded grease monkey paw prints down our lovely smart clothes.

I know it’s an old cliché jumping on a tandem to show your togetherness, but we really love the ability to communicate clearly with each other while riding tandem, it’s a lot nicer than bellowing over the other traffic to your riding partner, especially on your wedding day.

Now we can produce a marriage certificate and prove our commitment to each other, will we continue to ride tandem? Well I hope we do. It’s not for every couple and its certainly more difficult for strong independent riding couples to give up some of their autonomy, but just like throwing in singledom and deciding to walk the same path in life, riding tandem as a couple can bring major advantages and plug the gap of your own riding inadequacies if you have any.

It’s perfect if one of you is a nervous cyclist for example and that may seem counterintuitive but putting your partner in control and just sitting back and relaxing while they deal with everything else means you can enjoy all the great bits of cycling and only have the pedalling to worry about. It doesn’t mean you are surrendering your self-sufficiency – rather you are working together.

Like another irritating analogy of a relationship, putting your trust in the other person from the outset is needed and if one rider remains nervous about doing that the tandem will become difficult to balance.

But give in and surrender yourself to the bicycle made for two and you will find with the power doubled and only a tiny bit more drag than one you will go better into that headwind and power your machine better downhill and on flat roads.

Don’t forget you can fall off spectacularly, especially when getting to grips with push off and as the stoker at the back you are also at risk of getting a kick in the head if you don’t dismount properly, but the fun is learning to overcome these troubles and the reward is a faster ride.

I plan for the hubby and I to tandem further than before in the future – a whole touring holiday working in tandem is my big plan.

Selfishly, I know his power output is more than me on major hills but I also know he will enjoy not having to wait at the top of the hill for me any more.

And am I worried about the old adage that the tandem is a divorce machine – no way!

Although the tandem may look like a romantic way to ride to others it’s all about enduring the ride together, for better or worse, and I take comfort in the other old saying that “Whichever way your relationship is going, a tandem will get you there faster.”