Scott Henley Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 So I’ve been riding about 2 months now . I’ve learned how to ride with one leg , so one leg spins , ride slow , carve back and forth ect...but riding backwards is still seemingly impossible for me . As soon as I get going I can’t help but turn sharply to one side or the other . Just wondering how others learned and if there were any tips or tricks . Thanks ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post US69 Posted February 17, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted February 17, 2018 Just now, Scott Henley said: So I’ve been riding about 2 months now . I’ve learned how to ride with one leg , so one leg spins , ride slow , carve back and forth ect...but riding backwards is still seemingly impossible for me . As soon as I get going I can’t help but turn sharply to one side or the other . Just wondering how others learned and if there were any tips or tricks . Thanks ! There is/was a video series of our famous member @Marty Backe , which also motivated me to get going. Is it still existing, marty? The main trick is just one: Keep practising, over and over and over.... Its about ten to 20 times harder than learning to drive forward, and also the progress is slower. I am still no expert in doing it.....but if you keep on trying, the reward will come. Sorry to have no other tipps here :-) 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Henley Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 1 minute ago, KingSong69 said: There is/was a video series of our famous member @Marty Backe , which also motivated me to get going. Is it still existing, marty? The main trick is just one: Keep practising, over and over and over.... Its about ten to 20 times harder than learning to drive forward, and also the progress is slower. I am still no expert in doing it.....but if you keep on trying, the reward will come. Sorry to have no other tipps here :-) I’ve looked for trick riding tutorials on YouTube and can’t reallt find anything other than basic “this is how to ride an EUC “ . It took me about 2 weeks to get the one foot thing down and I just leaned by repeatedly trying different things. I guess I’ll have to do the same with riding in reverse . It would be nice if someone made tutorials for the more advanced skills . I will check Marty’s YouTube and see if he has anything . Thanks ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofjob Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 My 2 cents, the keys to my getting backwards: Don’t try to make it pretty. Just like when learning forwards, make big S’s, trying to link turns opposite the direction you feel the fall. Straight line backwards will come naturally with practice, comfort, and some speed. Butt lean is key, the opposite of leg/hip lean for going forwards. The more you feel like you’re gonna fall, the more you should bend your knees. (this helped solidify my backwards) Also, obvious, but arms straight out for balance! Your torso/lean is always one step ahead of your wheel. So when switching to backwards from a forwards motion: 1. Your body stops in place (no lean), but your wheel is still moving forwards, slowing down; 2. You initiate lean from the butt, but your wheel is now still/braked; 3. You are still leaning back, but now the wheel catches up, wheel plus rider moving backwards. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve454 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 This might help, but like @KingSong69 said, it just takes a little practice each time, might take weeks or more, but eventually you get it. BTW, I can ride backwards, but not one legged. I need to practice that the same way as I learned backwards, a few minutes each ride. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve454 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 10 minutes ago, houseofjob said: My 2 cents, the keys to my getting backwards: Don’t try to make it pretty. Just like when learning forwards, make big S’s, trying to link turns opposite the direction you feel the fall. Straight line backwards will come naturally with practice, comfort, and some speed. Butt lean is key, the opposite of leg/hip lean for going forwards. The more you feel like you’re gonna fall, the more you should bend your knees. (this helped solidify my backwards) Also, obvious, but arms straight out for balance! Your torso/lean is always one step ahead of your wheel. So when switching to backwards from a forwards motion: 1. Your body stops in place (no lean), but your wheel is still moving forwards, slowing down; 2. You initiate lean from the butt, but your wheel is now still/braked; 3. You are still leaning back, but now the wheel catches up, wheel plus rider moving backwards. That last point is pretty much how I practiced, stopping in place and then leaning back. @Mono gave me that idea, every time stopping, leaning back a little more and over time the distance in reverse got farther and farther. All the rest of it came over time, until I could actually control the wheel going backwards. Took me a long time to get decent at it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 7 minutes ago, steve454 said: That last point is pretty much how I practiced, stopping in place and then leaning back. @Mono gave me that idea, every time stopping, leaning back a little more and over time the distance in reverse got farther and farther. All the rest of it came over time, until I could actually control the wheel going backwards. Took me a long time to get decent at it. All good points! As Ian points out in one of his 60 second shorts you need to be able to completely pause or stop with controlled balance before learning to ride backwards. Also try lowering your center of gravity by bending the knees more when practicing. Practice, practice, practice is definitely the key. 1st you will travel an inch, then 6 inches and so forth. If your worried about scuffing up your wheel while practicing use a tether and tucked inside your pocket. Then you can fully concentrate on the task at hand and when you do loose your balance and the wheel (and you will) just grab ahold the strap. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve454 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) 54 minutes ago, houseofjob said: My 2 cents, the keys to my getting backwards: Don’t try to make it pretty. Just like when learning forwards, make big S’s, trying to link turns opposite the direction you feel the fall. Straight line backwards will come naturally with practice, comfort, and some speed. Butt lean is key, the opposite of leg/hip lean for going forwards. The more you feel like you’re gonna fall, the more you should bend your knees. (this helped solidify my backwards) Also, obvious, but arms straight out for balance! Your torso/lean is always one step ahead of your wheel. So when switching to backwards from a forwards motion: 1. Your body stops in place (no lean), but your wheel is still moving forwards, slowing down; 2. You initiate lean from the butt, but your wheel is now still/braked; 3. You are still leaning back, but now the wheel catches up, wheel plus rider moving backwards. That is another good point, took me a lot of practice. Edited February 17, 2018 by steve454 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Henley Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 1 hour ago, steve454 said: This might help, but like @KingSong69 said, it just takes a little practice each time, might take weeks or more, but eventually you get it. BTW, I can ride backwards, but not one legged. I need to practice that the same way as I learned backwards, a few minutes each ride. Great video. Thanks . I’ve searched You Tube and never really found anything . I think as everyone has stated....practice is going to be key here . The fundamentals and one legged riding cane pretty quickly to me so I think I’m just getting aggravated that this skill isn’t coming as easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofjob Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) @Scott Henley just stick with it! It will click all of a sudden. I’m a super slow learner, and got the feel after a single 2-hour session. Edited February 17, 2018 by houseofjob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Marty Backe Posted February 17, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted February 17, 2018 I learned in 10-days and documented the whole process in a Video-a-day series. Here they are for your convenience. I'm not sure how much you can learn from these, but maybe you can be inspired. A little practice every day does the trick I continue to practice a little every single day. And here's how my skill has progressed 7-months after that 10th video 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) 6 hours ago, Marty Backe said: I learned in 10-days and documented the whole process in a Video-a-day series. Here they are for your convenience. I'm not sure how much you can learn from these, but maybe you can be inspired. A little practice every day does the trick That was an excellent documentary! Your dedication and time spent teaching other forum members is so honorable! 6 hours ago, Marty Backe said: I continue to practice a little every single day. And here's how my skill has progressed 7-months after that 10th video This shot makes me cring! You don’t have to be traveling very fast to suffer a closed head injury. You tucked your head perfectly on that fall. Edited February 17, 2018 by Rehab1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Henley Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 6 hours ago, Marty Backe said: I learned in 10-days and documented the whole process in a Video-a-day series. Here they are for your convenience. I'm not sure how much you can learn from these, but maybe you can be inspired. A little practice every day does the trick I continue to practice a little every single day. And here's how my skill has progressed 7-months after that 10th video @Marty Backe, thank you . I could not find these videos. You are a true EUC ambassador. Every time I have a question it seems I can always count on you having good information and a video to accompany it . So on behalf of all of us new to the world of EUC , thank you sir . 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NECway Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Learning to ride backwards is a goal I have set for myself this year. @Marty Backe in you opinion, would it be easer to learn on a Tesla or MCM4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demargon Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, Rehab1 said: That was an excellent documentary! Your dedication and time spent teaching other forum members is so honorable! This shot makes me cring! You don’t have to be traveling very fast to suffer a closed head injury. You tucked your head perfectly on that fall. That's what I thinking. The backwards learning is hard because the fear and the fact of falling. My advice is warmup, run backwards, do slow falling backwards from crouched, warmup legs, arms, hands and neck. Remember wear hard gloves, the hands normally is the first body part to impact, protect it gives you better chances to protect all you body Edited February 17, 2018 by Demargon 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 6 hours ago, NECway said: Learning to ride backwards is a goal I have set for myself this year. @Marty Backe in you opinion, would it be easer to learn on a Tesla or MCM4? The most stable wheel, so I think the Tesla would be better. Plus it has very hard pedals (in Hard mode vs medium or soft) which certainly help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duaner Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Riding forwards, wrist gaurds are good protection. For learning backwards wrist guards and elbow guards are a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourtoys7 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 this summer is the goal, lol there is situations where you/ I could really use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) I did a forensic study of @Marty Backe fall backwards hoping I could learn something. On close inspection It appears Marty had a few accidents. Edited February 20, 2018 by Rehab1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 7 hours ago, Rehab1 said: I did a forensic study of @Marty Backe fall backwards hoping I could learn something. On close inspection It appears Marty had a few accidents. You are never going to get access to any of my hi-res raw footage. Ain't going to happen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Marty Backe said: You are never going to get access to any of my hi-res raw footage. Ain't going to happen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubadragonsan Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 (edited) How about tips for riding one leg backward? Anyone? Practice, practice, practice... Edited November 21, 2018 by scubadragosan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 Chances are that you already have the skill to ride backwards if you've been riding long enough, because most riders learn to do pendulums (riding back and forth in place). If you can do long and slow pendulums, with ease and control, but you feel you cannot go backwards, then it's merely the entirely legitimate fear of falling that's stopping you from going backwards. While I would say just practice pendulums, I wonder if that's safe. I've had several close calls these past weeks that's made me decide pendulums are much more dangerous than they look. I believe pendulums have the highest power requirements of any wheel act that we do. I've had these crashes while going backwards or doing pendulums. 1. Picked up a rock that jammed between wheel and magnet. 2. Several times had wheel slip when starting the pendulum. 3. Several times had the wheel lose partial power and the pedals sag. Still, if you have a powerful 14 or 16 inch wheel, and you wear a helmet and are ready for the inevitable bail, then extended pendulums transitioning into backwards riding seems the easiest and least drama-free way of learning to ride backwards, the only caveat is that your wheel might dump you when you do too many "snaps" too quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 (edited) 7 hours ago, scubadragosan said: How about tips for riding one leg backward? Anyone? Practice, practice, practice... 1) Full upper leg contact with the wheel for the leg that stays on the wheel. The tip of your foot, the rear of your foot and the contact point of your upper leg form a control triangle. This way you control the wheel in all axes. Additional control as usual comes from the shoulders and your arms (your order of preference may vary depending on your riding style) 2) One inch at a time Edited November 22, 2018 by pico 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubadragonsan Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Thanks, Pico. You got a link to your video? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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