Riding Backwards?

Moogs said:

*I've advanced to the level where I can go up and down fairly steep
and long hills, stop for about a second and then get going again
(though I can't idle yet), I can't do jumps and stuff, I'm practicing
stopping with my pedals parallel to the ground to do that kind of
stuff. My question is this: where do I go from here? I can ride
forward as far as I want to, what's the next step? Going backwards? If
so, how do I start learning that? Thanks, I'm new to this kind of
thing, just a few weeks since I bought my first uni (20" Sun. Not a
very good one, but I'm looking at upgrading on eBay). *

This is how this thread started. It has deteriorated into something
else. Moogs asked how to idle and ride backwards. He said he's
practicing stopping with the pedals parallel so he can learn to hop.
That's all. It wasn't complicated. He should have gotten answers about
how to ride backwards and how to idle. Instead he got three pages of
something that might as well have been telling him what he REALLY needs
is to learn to bake chocolate cakes. He didn't ask how to bake chocolate
cakes, though.

ChangingLINKS.com said:

*
Perhaps I should point out 'The COOLEST pics of 2005'
(http://tinyurl.com/5axlj) thread. Let's look at those "cool" photos .
. . . last I checked *every* skill that I mentioned was featured - and
backwards and idling were "left out."
*

The very first photo in that thread shows me on top of an FN van de
Graaff accelerator on Christmas Eve, 2002. It may interest you to know
that I am idling in that photograph.

--
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-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

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harper said:

*This is how this thread started. It has deteriorated into something
else. Moogs asked how to idle and ride backwards. He said he's
practicing stopping with the pedals parallel so he can learn to hop.
That's all. It wasn't complicated. He should have gotten answers about
how to ride backwards and how to idle. Instead he got three pages of
something that might as well have been telling him what he REALLY
needs is to learn to bake chocolate cakes. He didn't ask how to bake
chocolate cakes, though.
*

Oh. I thought he said
MY QUESTION IS THIS: WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?
Guess that wasn't clear enough.
Perhaps he should have added:
I CAN RIDE FORWARD AS FAR AS I WANT TO, WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP?
I accidently overlooked the part where he wrote:
How do I learn to ride backwards (sans the "If" with a capital "I"😉

MOOGS ASKED HOW TO IDLE AND RIDE BACKWARDS.
Could you point out the sentence where??? Please?

Let's toss the logic of learning more basic skills.
Toss the immediate needs of the original poster.
While we're at it let's toss his questions also.
:rolls:

Et tu Harper?
Then die Drew!

/said my 2 cents already.

By now he knows there are various things he should work on.

--
ChangingLINKS.com - member

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Drew Brown
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Yeah. I guess you're right. It's incredibly complicated.

--
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-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

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I can't believe I hadn't read this thread yet.

There is nothing wrong with a "level 1" rider learning to ride
backwards. Riding backwards is much like learning to ride forwards and
can be learned at any time in one's skill development.

I learned to ride in 1976. By 1982 I could ride forwards, ride
diagonally down steps, idle, and ride backwards. If I was lucky I could
roll the occasional curb. I was perfectly happy with this skill set for
another 20 years. It was not until 2002 I discovered the other skills
and started learning them. (I had heard stories of people hopping up
steps and that just seemed inconceivable. Ignorance is bliss)

So, I was a level 1-2 rider for 26 years. I've been level four for a
couple year now.

As for riding backwards in Muni and Trials. I don't think it is
uncommmon to set up at an obstacle then go backwards a couple
revolutions to prepare for a rolling hop. In fact, it is a very common
set up for a human jump over in performances.

--
UniBrier - Its Time to Ride

Steve DeKoekkoek

Hop Drop & Roll

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vivalargo said:

We'll have to start a club of climbers/unicyclists. The ranks seem to be
growing daily, especially with Muni.

Count me in. I'll be in So Cal April 9-13, and might be able to sneak
away for a beer or two. You can email me at [email hidden].

------------

To ChangingLinks:

It is no surprise that the experts gave you the advice you've been
relaying. It is no surprise at all, because you didn't ask how to
progress as a unicyclist, but rather as an off-road unicyclist. You
wanted to know how to get from beginner to advanced trail rider as
quickly as possible, adn you got your answer. I know this because I
overheard you asking an expert last year in Moab.

But I do wonder about your goal of being able to get from point A to
point B most expeditiously. If that was really your goal, wouldn't
you choose a bicycle instead? For me, unicycling is about the
process, not the endpoints.

Ken

HARPER:
\"IT'S INCREDIBLY COMPLICATED.\"

No it's not Harper.
1. He asked "My question is this: where do I go from here? "
2. He asked "I can ride forward as far as I want to, what's the next
step?"
3. This was NOT (yet another) a "how do I learn to idle and ride
backwards" thread
Your sarcasm doesn't change the original post. Ask Gilby for that.
/done.

KEN CLINE:
YOU WANTED TO KNOW HOW TO GET FROM BEGINNER TO ADVANCED TRAIL RIDER AS
QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE
Perhaps you misunderstood my question. My question was very similar to
the one that started this thread. The question that I asked the experts
was:
-If you had to start over from scratch and you had 2 months to get to
the level you are now, what would you work on?-
I knew that the question posed an "impossible" senerio, however, it drew
out what skills were MOST important.
Over the last year, their advice has echoed in my head (even though I
don't feel like I followed it closely enough). Still, I'm a combo rider
like most here: a bit of freestyle, distance, trials, and off-road (I'm
about equal in all catagories).

Clarification: I didn't want to learn how to get from point A to point B
as quickly as possible. I have my own answer for that (develop spin,
rolling hops, etc). So you don't have to be confused about my purpose as
a unicyclist. Trying to position my opinion as "not relevant" (and in
this case "not even a true unicyclist"😉 is plain wrong and immoral.

I feel like I should jump ship from answering the original question and
tell Moogs to "start working on wheel-walking" it trumps idling and
backwards as a skill and opens up the rider to gliding and coasting, and
the upper freestyle skills.

Moogs.
Clearly you can see that some people strongly want you to learn to ride
backwards and idle.
That aside, my suggestion is that if you want "a path," let that path
lead to greatness.

Find a great rider and work on the skills that you see them using
(commonly). Watch the videos, watch them in person, isolate the skills
that they use to do great things and work on those skills.

--
ChangingLINKS.com - member

Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
Drew Brown
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Drew-

When I see a thread start wandering around off topic I do some research
and try understand what's going on and to get it back on track. A visit
to your website told me everything I needed to know. I like the
reference to the Ides of March thread recently started and the clever
variation on the reference to the quote from Shakespeare's "Julius
Caesar." I clearly saw the Caesar complex developing in the thread but
failed to locate the betrayal theme.

True; we see only what we want to see. Sometimes perhaps we see only
what we are able to see or see only through whatever portal we peer,
regardless of its size. What I see, or choose to see, here is my last
post to this drifting thread. /Q.E.D.

Hopefully Moogs has learned that there is a wealth of information
available for learning riders on these fora. Hopefully he has looked at
a few other threads and found that some of them address problems and
questions in a straightforward manner and then just go away.

--
harper - TANKED at GASWORKS

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

"My world view has come crashing down like a drunk clown on a giraffe,
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ChangingLINKS.com said:

KEN CLINE:
YOU WANTED TO KNOW HOW TO GET FROM BEGINNER TO ADVANCED TRAIL RIDER AS
QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE

Uh... try again. You are the one focused on trails. My perspective
is open to all styles of riding including, but not limited to, trails.

Quoted message said:

Trying to position my opinion as "not relevant" (and in
this case "not even a true unicyclist"😉 is plain wrong and immoral.

Your opinion is certainly relevant, but your personal bias shows
through very clearly. The facts are this: Moogs never said he wanted
to get into off road riding, yet your reply was not only heavily
weighted towards off-road oriented skills, but went further to deny
that backwards and idling are valuable. That's a strong bias. I
though maybe you would actually like to see the bias you present, but
it's no skin off my nose if you choose not to.

Quoted message said:

Moogs.
Clearly you can see that some people strongly want you to learn to ride
backwards and idle.

The funny thing is I haven't pushed idling and backwards over the
skills you recommend! I suggests both sets are valuable, and went on
to list the skills I have found most valuable (esp. various mounts,
and turning).

Remember, you are the one who wrote: "Riding backwards and idling
aren't necessary. Most of us can go weeks without using either
skill."

A freestyle-focused rider could just as easily have written: "Hopping,
gapping, climbing and spinning aren't necessary. Most of us can go
weeks without using either skill."

My opinion is this: Neither of these attitudes is the quick path to
excellence.

Ken

Thanks for all the input about the riding backwards, I'm not sure what I
want to do anymore 🙂

On the subject of chafing, I think my seat looks like this:

http://www.unicycle.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=242

making it a Savage, one of the bad ones. Will any seat fit with any
cycle, or are there certain ones that will only work with certain
brands? Thanks!

--
Moogs
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Moogs said:

Well, unfortunately, I don't think the issue is muscles, I think the
seat is chafing against my thighs... it doesn't feel like muscle hurt, I
only feel it on the cycle, and it only hurts when it rubs on the seat 🙁
Is that usual?

I figured that it was chafing in my reply two days ago, and offered
several ways of dealing with it. Did you read that?

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
people who unicycle are shyly exhibitionistic - GILD

Moogs said:

*Thanks for all the input about the riding backwards, I'm not sure
what I want to do anymore 🙂

On the subject of chafing, I think my seat looks like this:

http://www.unicycle.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=242

making it a Savage, one of the bad ones. Will any seat fit with any
cycle, or are there certain ones that will only work with certain
brands? Thanks! *

Moogs-

The saddle you link to is a United and says it is an upgrade from a
Savage saddle. Better is the 'VISCOUNT' (http://tinyurl.com/6ydv) which
will fit your standard 22.2mm seatpost tube and better yet is a 'KRIS
HOLM SADDLE' (http://tinyurl.com/2k2jz) which has a handle and will
still fit the bolt patterns of the other saddles and a 22.2mm
seatpost.
The 'VISCIOUS SAVAGE SADDLE' (http://tinyurl.com/2k2jz) normally has a
steel bumper on the front and back. The one pictured in the link doesn't
seem to.

--
harper - TANKED at GASWORKS

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

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I'm looking into this one:

http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=627

I can pay that much, and I certainly would like to invest in a better
seat. However, what are the differences in the options (air
saddle/fusion), and it would work on my Sun 20", right, standard bolts
and whatnot?

--
Moogs
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Thanks for the response on saddles, I think I'm going to get a Fusion
saddle because they are apparently a lot more comfortable. A new
question, though: what's the deal with gloves. I know I need some, I
have some old old wristguard type things from when I was into roller
blading, but I need to get some that fit me now. Which of these would be
better:

http://tinyurl.com/28ldn

Also, how are they sized? I think I have about average size hands and
fingers, which size would be best? I don't see a plastic strip on the KH
gloves, which is very important, I think, but it may be there. Thanks
guys!

--
Moogs
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ChangingLINKS.com said:

*I remember the idling and backwards competition in MOAB 2004 - oh . .
. there wasn't one. You find it ironic that wheel walking, gliding,
gapping and spinning (climbing and descending) were all featured?*

Actually, if you look at your 2004 score sheet, you'll find "idling in a
circle" was challenge #1 (with three different levels). I suspect you
forgot about that because you were unable to compete?

1st place - Kris Holm
2nd place - Teressa Abraham
3rd place - Beau Hoover

The "ride the rail" challenge required either idle, backwards or
stillstand to be competitive.

I also saw one rider attempt one of the slickrock sections this year
(2005) riding backwards (it earned him a prize at the Saturday
dinner).

Overall, the skills one chooses to learn are a very personal thing. I
choose to attempt to learn gliding well before some of the skills that
are in the "skill levels" because it looked really cool to me. Without
having seen most of the skill demonstrated I don't think I would have
even bothered trying though.

For me, the best way to learn it to watch others and try to emulate.

For others I think it's "watch others and innovate".

Regardless of which category you fall into make sure and have fun.

-mg

--
mgrant - Ever hoping for the best!

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of
breath, and one day closer to death.
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