Captain straddles the bike with brakes engaged, as shown. Stoker mounts the bike and sits with both feet on the pedals. Stoker communicates “ready,” and then the Captain will put one foot on the pedal and take off.

Note in this video that when making a turn, the stoker continues to pedal while the Captain does not. If the Captain were to pedal, the motor would engage and cause too great a speed to make a safe turn.