Backwards Tips

I think its impressive and like all things uni it just takes practise.

David

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Seems like non-riders expect us to be able to go backwards.
Going backwards allows you to do some cool looking advanced tricks.

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The easiest and safest way to learn to ride backwards is to start and
end with an idle.

Start idling then throw in an additional half revolution backwards then
continue idling. When you get comfortable with that, throw in an
additional half revolution backwards. Keep adding an additional half
revolution backwards and pretty soon you'll be actually riding
backwards. The advantage of starting and ending with an idle is that
you learn control. You learn how to start riding backwards, and more
importantly, you learn how to stop and recover to riding forwards
again.

You can also do what I call a super idle. Ride 1-1/2 revolutions
forwards and then 1-1/2 revolutions backwards. Or ride two revolutions
forwards and then two revolutions backwards.

The just throw caution to the wind and just start trying to ride
backwards approach has also worked for some people, but you'll find that
you are completely out of control and you'll probably land flat on your
back at least once while you're learning. The idling approach or the
super idling approach will be safer while learning and you'll learn
control.

A helmet is a good idea while learning to ride backwards. There is a
good possibility that you'll fall off going backwards and land flat on
your back, possibly hitting your head on the ground. Gloves and elbow
pads are also a good idea.

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The easiest and safest way to learn to ride backwards is to start and
end with an idle.

Start idling then throw in an additional half revolution backwards then
continue idling. When you get comfortable with that, throw in an
additional half revolution backwards. Keep adding an additional half
revolution backwards and pretty soon you'll be actually riding
backwards. The advantage of starting and ending with an idle is that
you learn control. You learn how to start riding backwards, and more
importantly, you learn how to stop and recover to riding forwards
again.

You can also do what I call a super idle. Ride 1-1/2 revolutions
forwards and then 1-1/2 revolutions backwards. Or ride two revolutions
forwards and then two revolutions backwards.

The just throw caution to the wind and just start trying to ride
backwards approach has also worked for some people, but you'll find that
you are completely out of control and you'll probably land flat on your
back at least once while you're learning. The idling approach or the
super idling approach will be safer while learning and you'll learn
control.

A helmet is a good idea while learning to ride backwards. There is a
good possibility that you'll fall off going backwards and land flat on
your back, possibly hitting your head on the ground. Gloves and elbow
pads are also a good idea.

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John,
Do you mind if we borrow that tip (giving you credit) for the tips and
tutorials site?

Tyler,
Check out www.freewebs.com/andrewcarter/home.htm and look in the
freestyle section for tips on backwards riding. Good luck.

Andrew

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THE EASIEST AND SAFEST WAY TO LEARN TO RIDE BACKWARDS IS TO START AND
END WITH AN IDLE.

I humbly disagree.
Learning to ride backwards from an idle is much more difficult than
simply stopping with the dominant foot back, and pushing off backwards.
To learn, I simply did a standard mount, leaned back and started
peddling (just like learning to go forward). The "safety trick" is to
try to dismount from the front of the uni so that you don't "forget" to
take your feet off of the pedals and get "tangled up."
With every skill you learn, you will have at least one "hard" fall. In
this case, your hands will hit the ground first, and then your elbows
will hit hard soon after. Your head will probably be saved (wear elbow
pads, wrist guards/gloves).
The bottom line is learning to go forward, backward or 1 foot is easiest
if you simply "go for it" rather than combine other "advanced" skills.

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ya all i gdid was start riding forward then with my more prominent foot
start pedaning backwards and it worked. it took me about two days of
practicing before i got fairly comfortable doing it.

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andrew_carter said:

*John,
Do you mind if we borrow that tip (giving you credit) for the tips and
tutorials site?
*

Go ahead. You can edit things too so it makes more sense.

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ChangingLINKS.com said:

*The bottom line is learning to go forward, backward or 1 foot is
easiest if you simply "go for it" rather than combine other
"advanced" skills. *

Different people will approach learning new skills differently. Some
people will prefer to just go for it while others prefer to take a more
careful approach. I fall into the more careful approach category.

I never once had a bad fall while learning to ride backwards. I never
was out of control. At any time that I felt things were beginning to go
badly I could stop and recover. I don't think learning my way slowed
down my progress at all. The idling approach gives clear goals that
keeps the learning from getting frustrating. Once you get the 2
backwards revolutions nailed then you try to 2.5. When you've got the
2.5 backwards revolutions nailed you try for 3. There is always a goal.
Sure beats just going for it and riding backwards until you fall off,
at least for me.

And idling is hardly an advanced skill. If you can't idle with either
foot down solidly, you probably aren't really ready to try backwards
riding yet. Idling is pretty much the foundation for any other skill.
Idling demonstrates some control of the unicycle. I consider it a basic
skill.

Idling is the fist skill you learn where you're doing something unique
and special on a unicycle. It's a very "unicyclish" skill. The second
uniquely unicycle skill that people typically learn is riding backwards.
The third uniquely unicycle skill most people learn is riding one
footed. It is odd that all three of those uniquely unicycle type skills
are in level 4. I'd prefer it if idling with your favorite foot down
was in level 3. That would make more sense to me because idling is
really a foundation type skill that should come before backwards and one
foot.

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-Originally posted by john_childs -
DIFFERENT PEOPLE WILL APPROACH LEARNING NEW SKILLS DIFFERENTLY.
It is good that you understand people have different opinions, learning
techniques and timing.

SOME PEOPLE WILL PREFER TO JUST GO FOR IT WHILE OTHERS PREFER TO TAKE A
MORE CAREFUL APPROACH. I FALL INTO THE MORE CAREFUL APPROACH CATEGORY.
I also fall into the "careful approach" category.

I NEVER ONCE HAD A BAD FALL WHILE LEARNING TO RIDE BACKWARDS. I NEVER
WAS OUT OF CONTROL. AT ANY TIME THAT I FELT THINGS WERE BEGINNING TO GO
BADLY I COULD STOP AND RECOVER.
Sorry, I respect you and all, but I simply do not believe you never had
a UPD when you were learning that skill. The rest of us have UPDs when
we learn new skills - I would dare to add that the rest of us (barring
Coker riders) have a UPD each day we ride. Having UPDs is not a bad
thing - it comes with the territory of having one wheel to balance on.

I DON'T THINK LEARNING MY WAY SLOWED DOWN MY PROGRESS AT ALL.
Avoiding UPDs at all costs probably decreases learning speed. At the
slightest hint of being out of control, you have to quit trying and
start over. Starting over more often takes more time.

THE IDLING APPROACH GIVES CLEAR GOALS THAT KEEPS THE LEARNING FROM
GETTING FRUSTRATING. ONCE YOU GET THE 2 BACKWARDS REVOLUTIONS NAILED
THEN YOU TRY TO 2.5. WHEN YOU'VE GOT THE 2.5 BACKWARDS REVOLUTIONS
NAILED YOU TRY FOR 3. THERE IS ALWAYS A GOAL. SURE BEATS JUST GOING
FOR IT AND RIDING BACKWARDS UNTIL YOU FALL OFF, AT LEAST FOR ME.
You misunderstand how I learned. I did the same thing: I counted half
revolutions. Now you can see that you can have a "clear goal" without
making "idling" one of them. To put it clearly: I learned to go
backwards the same way as I learned to go forwards - sans idling.

AND IDLING IS HARDLY AN ADVANCED SKILL. IF YOU CAN'T IDLE WITH EITHER
FOOT DOWN SOLIDLY, YOU PROBABLY AREN'T REALLY READY TO TRY BACKWARDS
RIDING YET. IDLING IS PRETTY MUCH THE FOUNDATION FOR ANY OTHER SKILL.
IDLING DEMONSTRATES SOME CONTROL OF THE UNICYCLE. I CONSIDER IT A BASIC
SKILL.
I don't. There is a local guy who can ride better than me off-road. He
can hop higher than me. He is faster than me. He cannot idle. I believe
that he has "more control" over the unicycle because he can do these
things.

IDLING IS THE FIST SKILL YOU LEARN WHERE YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING UNIQUE
AND SPECIAL ON A UNICYCLE.
That depends on what you call "unique." First, you try to reduce idling
to being common and fundamental, then you call it unique and special. I
disagree with both ideas:
1. I do not think idling is a basic skill BECAUSE a rider can ride an
entire day without doing it.
2. I don't think it is "special" because as you have pointed out it is
"hardly an advanced skill."

THE SECOND UNIQUELY UNICYCLE SKILL THAT PEOPLE TYPICALLY LEARN IS RIDING
BACKWARDS.
I think it is hopping. It is easier to hop one time (consistenly) than
it is to idle. It didn't take me 4.5 hours to learn to hop. (I noticed
the "uniquely unicycle skill" part but ignored it. 1. Riding forward is
unique (on a unicycle). 2. Standard mounts are unique also. Further, a
rider does *not* have to learn to idle first.

THE THIRD UNIQUELY UNICYCLE SKILL MOST PEOPLE LEARN IS RIDING ONE
FOOTED.
I invoke the power of gpickett0 - he learned to one foot before he
learned to idle or go backwards.

IDLING IS REALLY A FOUNDATION TYPE SKILL THAT SHOULD COME BEFORE
BACKWARDS AND ONE FOOT.
It can. Nothing prevents the rider from learning those skills first. 🙂
By moving idling down to level 3, you just make it harder to be level 3
people. I think that all of the levels were correctly weighted - except,
I would probably move seat on stomach to Level 3 because it is almost as
hard as seat out front.

The bottom line is that if you put a poll out, I think you would find
that most people learn to go backwards without idling before each
attempt. I am currently learing to ride one footed - and it never
crossed my mind to idle into it.

Point:
I see idling, going backwards and riding with one foot as three separate
(and even branched) skills). They are all of about the same difficulty
(like Level 4 implies). Finally: It is easier each of these three skills
without executing another one of them first.

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Quoted message said:

Sorry, I respect you and all, but I simply do not believe you never
had a UPD when you were learning that skill.

Well he did say he never had a -bad- fall. I also never had a bad fall
when learning to ride backwards, the worse I had was falling off the
unicycle backwards but landing on my feet in a semi-controlled fashion.
I think my skill learning style is pretty similar to John's.

Andrew

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andrew_carter said:

*Well he did say he never had a -bad- fall. I also never had a bad
fall when learning to ride backwards, the worse I had was falling off
the unicycle backwards but landing on my feet in a semi-controlled
fashion. I think my skill learning style is pretty similar to
John's.

Andrew *

Yes, exactly. I had plenty of unplanned dismounts but never a bad fall.
My big fear while learning to ride backwards was falling on my tailbone
or flat on my back. That never happened, and I never came close to
falling like that.

I did fall flat on my back once while learning to wheel walk. Ouch. I
don't like it when that happens.

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ChangingLINKS.com said:

IDLING IS THE FIST SKILL YOU LEARN WHERE YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING UNIQUE
AND SPECIAL ON A UNICYCLE.
That depends on what you call "unique." First, you try to reduce
idling to being common and fundamental, then you call it unique and
special. I disagree with both ideas:
1. I do not think idling is a basic skill BECAUSE a rider can ride an
entire day without doing it.
2. I don't think it is "special" because as you have pointed out it is
"hardly an advanced skill."

By unique and special I mean a skill that is special for a unicycle.
You don't idle back and forth on a bike. Idling is really the first
skill you do where you're doing something different than what you could
do on a bike. Up to that point you're just riding the unicycle like
some weird bike, getting on, riding forwards, turning, nothing
special.

Backwards riding and one foot riding also fall in the category of unique
and special skills on a unicycle.

I do find it odd that your friend is doing muni and jumping around
without bothering to learn to idle. It seems he has probably
substituted hopping in place for idling. Idling isn't that hard. If he
can jump then he can idle. I idle every time I muni. It's easier than
hopping in place (as long as the ground is smooth). Idling makes it
possible to do the equivalent of a three point turn to do a u-turn on
the trail. When I'm trying to get lined up to get on a stunt I'll often
idle and/or hop in place. And in the case of riding a giraffe, knowing
how to idle is a safety feature. If you're riding around on a giraffe
and you can't idle then you're a danger to everyone around you.

If you're riding around in a gym with a whole bunch of level one and two
riders, being able to idle allows you to avoid collisions. That's where
idling demonstrates control of the unicycle. The people who can't idle
are buzzing around like bees and a hazard to other ridres. The people
who can idle are able to avoid collisions and yield right of way to the
less skilled riders.

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andrew_carter said:

*Well he did say he never had a -bad- fall. I also never had a bad
fall when learning to ride backwards, the worse I had was falling off
the unicycle backwards but landing on my feet in a semi-controlled
fashion. I think my skill learning style is pretty similar to
John's.
Andrew *

Here's the quote:
I NEVER ONCE HAD A BAD FALL WHILE LEARNING TO RIDE BACKWARDS. I NEVER
WAS OUT OF CONTROL.
The second sentence clearly implies that he never "fell off." I guess
the misunderstanding is my term "bad fall." I have never been injured
from a "fall" for more than 30 seconds of pain. I consider a "bad fall"
one where your elbow (or knee) touches the ground.

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IT SEEMS HE HAS PROBABLY SUBSTITUTED HOPPING IN PLACE FOR IDLING.
Yes. I do it too. To us, it is easier to come to a stop and hop
(especially since that means we have come to an obsticle that we can't
roll).

IT'S EASIER THAN HOPPING IN PLACE (AS LONG AS THE GROUND IS SMOOTH).
I agree that the ground must be smooth to idle (creating a need to make
a decision about it's use). I disagree that idling is ever easier than
hopping. I hop into a standstill (hopping only to regain balance). With
hopping you never need to worry about the terrain - one can hop almost
anything one can roll. However, I am sure there are few places *that I
would want to STOP* I can idle on these trails.

The rest of your quote demonstrates the importance of idling. While I
don't think you needed to reach for giraffes or level 2 riders, I agree
with everything you said there. Idling is useful - and I am not
anti-idling.

My position is:
Going backwards, idling and one footed riding are all independent
skills.
Further, it is easier to learn to idle without going backwards prior to
each try. Likewise, it is easier to learn to go backwards without idling
or riding one footed before each try.

P.S.
Now that I think about it, one can stop learning anything beyond Level 3
and be awesome at riding offroad or even riding distance. Think about
it: you can substitute the 180 degree turns for idling. The point is if
one *masters* all of the skills in Level 3 they can do all of the skills
that you mentioned (avoiding other people/riders, take breaks before
cleaning challenges, etc.) AND have enough skill to play basketball and
hockey. I find that sharp turns and sprinting are much more important
than idling in games.

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john_childs said:

* I'd prefer it if idling with your favorite foot down was in level
3. That would make more sense to me because idling is really a
foundation type skill that should come before backwards and one foot.
*

The foundation skill for idling and backward riding is the "ride
forward, stop, pedal backward 1/2 rev, then continue forward"

I think you should practice bwd and idling at the same time, if
possible. I learned both backward and one foot _before_ I learned to
idle with either foot.
All three are very important to learn well. Bwd and idling are very
interrelated.

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iunicycle said:

*I think you should practice bwd and idling at the same time, if
possible. I learned both backward and one foot _before_ I learned to
idle with either foot.
All three are very important to learn well. Bwd and idling are very
interrelated. *

By the time I started working on riding backwards I was already very
comfortable at idling with either foot down. That may be why I found
the "super idle" approach to learning to ride backwards so helpful for
me.

I learned to ride way back when I was in Jr. High school (7th grade). I
learned to mount, ride, turn, and idle. That was basically it. I
didn't bother to learn how to ride backwards until about 18 years later.
So I had about 18 years of idling practice before I tried riding
backwards!

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john_childs said:

* So I had about 18 years of idling practice before I tried riding
backwards! *

Unicycling is great in this respect: everything you learn helps you
learn more. Knowing how to idle gives you another way to start learning
how to ride backward. At a local Elementary School kids sometimes try to
go backward by pushing themselves backward off a wall. This is because
they can't idle yet, and backwards looks cool. They also can't do the
simple skill I pointed out earlier: fwd, 1/2 back, fwd.

If you ask me the problem with the skill levels and skills in general,
as a measure of progress, is that they are too big. There are many, many
things you need to learn before you own a skill. These things may not be
impressive, no one else outside of unicycling will appreciate them (and
maybe most in unicycling will not), but if you pay attention, these
little things are what will keep you going and keep you motivated.

Idling and backwards riding are a perfect example of one helping the
other. It is possible to learn these skills independently as I did (bwd,
idle) or as an expansion of another skill as john_childs did: (idle,
super-idle, super-super-idle, bwd riding). If all you can do is idle,
you don't really own that skill: because you can't get out of it half
the time, you have to rock back one more time then go forward. It may
not be possible to go forward, so you have to be able to idle and turn
sharply at the same time, or ride backward. So the skills are not
really idling and riding backward, but togeather: manuvering with both
feet on the pedals.

All togeather there is a collection of two foot manuvering skills:
riding fwd/bwd, idling either foot down, turning sharply right/left, and
every transition from one of these to the other, and directly mounting
into any of these.

The same series of skills exists for one foot riding, repeat once for
each foot.

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Just wanted to add a newbie's take on learning to ride backwards: I can
idle till the cows come home and do the forward 1/2 backwards and
forward thing (another way to say one idle as far as I am concerned)
but I had a few very nasty falls just going for it without using the
idling control that john_childs talks about. Crashing and burning going
backwards is not fun and they don't make butt and tailbone pads to
guard against road rash from those types of falls.

So I started using the idle/super idle method and I have been able to
progress up to 30 feet backward at times and I stay in control of the
uni! No more road rash no more falls! When learning to ride forward
you can just run off the uni when you upd......not so going backwards,
at least while you're learning! Not for me anyway!

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