What are some tips for going backwards? Does it impress the crowds?
I think its impressive and like all things uni it just takes practise.
David
Seems like non-riders expect us to be able to go backwards.
Going backwards allows you to do some cool looking advanced tricks.
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.
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
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.
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.
Go ahead. You can edit things too so it makes more sense.
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.
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:
- I do not think idling is a basic skill BECAUSE a rider can ride an entire day without doing it.
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 usually 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, there are few places that I would want to stop on our trails where I can easily idle (rather than hop and standstill).
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. Level 3 also includes the “foot balancing” technique needed for advanced hopping via “ride forwards, half rotation backwards, continue forwards.”
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.
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!
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.
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!
I learned how to idle as John Childs suggested, going from single strokes to “super idling,” and having gotten proficient at that, I could ride backward the first time I tried, and I never once UPded really hard. The super idling gets your brain used to working with the sort of reverse body english needed to ride backward–and with some modicum of control.
Since I mostly enjoy Muni, and to a lesser extent, trials riding, extended backward riding is basically needless – as are most freestyle tricks like one-foot riding and wheel walking – but I’ve found these skills make me more comfortable on the saddle in all situations, and are useful to that end. Tricks – backwards riding being one of the basics – also keep the task interesting and learning fresh and exciting. Unless you’re learning new stuff, things start to get stale.
JL