After a long period of being a little too timid to even try very much, I am finally managing sufficient distance in reverse as to be in need of some directional control. It is either that or I start hitting walls randomly to the North, South, East or West of me. To the good, I am hitting the floor rather less now.
The unicycle is turning, but it is turning when and where it, and my imbalance, dictate that it should, rather than going anywhere near where I am trying to aim the thing.
Any advice on how to steer consistently when riding backwards please? I know it will eventually come to me, but any help might just speed up the process. Or is it once again just putting in the time?
This might sound daft, but, well, it’s just like steering when you’re going forwards… only the other way around!
In the same way that you steer by either leaning left or right, apply more pressure with one leg, or twist your body sharply, these can all be done backwards. The thing that I found was that each time I looked over my shoulder, I started to steer a bit in that direction. Regularly alternating which shoulder to look over every few seconds meant I could go straiter, and safer. Once you’ve got strait sorted out, you can then experiment a bit with leaning slightly, or pushing harder with one leg.
Oh, and the other 3 important things are practice, more practice and even more practice
Yeah, you basically do the same as forwards, but in reverse.
To break it down: (turning right)
-Put more pressure on the down-stroke of your right pedal.
-Turn your shoulders and hips so that they are perpendicular to where you want to go. So for a right turn your hips left (to the outside).
Lean to the inside for higher speed turns.
From watching vids, it looks like to do tight spins, you actually lean your body to the outside.
I can’t deside if it’s better to look behind me to the inside or outside. (To the outside seems to me to be a bit better for wide turns and to the inside for tighter ones.)
Turn your outside shoulder in the direction of the turn. In other words, if you want to curve to your right as you go backward, turn your left shoulder so it is more behind you. This will help cause the rest of your body to turn that way as well. This is the method used in spins so I assume it should assist in regular turns. Mostly it’s practice. Pick a direction, and try to turn only in that direction, then straight, then that direction again. Then try the other way.
If you’re doing lots of backward riding, check the tightness of your pedals from time to time, to make sure they aren’t coming loose.
I generally look over my shoulder to keep myself from running into walls and such. And as for turning, it sounds simple but just lean like you do normally. It just takes some getting used to like going forwards does. Just keep practicing and you’ll get it.
