what safety gear...

[e39m5]

for learning to ride backwards? I just learned riding fowards, so im prepared to fall a lot. Any suggestions?

e39m5

[kapoute]

I fell on my back and hurt pretty bad my head on the ground and I wasn't wearing a helmet so I would specially recommend it. If you don't have plastic pedal, i would also sugest shin pads.
Hope this help you

Elbow pads, Camelbak, Helmet. Seriously!

I've had two unpleasant backwards falls, both while learning. In both
cases, I hit an elbow hard enough that I couldn't put weight on it for
months. Another time, I ran into a twig (about 3/8" around) that
stopped the unicycle in its track and left me flying backwards. I
missed hitting the edge of the curb with my head by an inch or two.
The helmet protects and Camelback protect head and back against this
sort of fall, even if you don't see it coming.

For the sake of completeness, I rarely ride without wearing gloves for
hand and (with KH Pulse gloves) wrist protection.

Ken

[U-Turn]

Helmet with rounded back, not the pointed kind. I have troubles in my neck still from about a year and a half ago from a backwards fall. My head was fine, but I was wearing a pointy helmet and I think that made things worse.

The fall was while working on 1-f backwards. I basically landed flat on my back and my head hit too.

[MERCYME]

Originally posted by e39m5
for learning to ride backwards? I just learned riding fowards, so im prepared to fall a lot. Any suggestions?

e39m5

Helmet and wrist guards

Also e39m5 why do you make so many threads. you seem to have a lot of questions

[unicyclepa]

you seem to have a lot of questions

Questions are good thats how we lern

[MERCYME]

Originally posted by unicyclepa
Questions are good thats how we lern

true indeed

[sevenasterisks]

One thing I would recommend even more than wearing safety gear is to land on your feet

Usually I just wear a helmet, but I am usually pretty good at not hurting myself when I fall. I am currently on a quest to learn backwards one footed, and I have had many less than perfect falls. Just don't ever land on that bone right at the bottom of your back, it hurts. I would say for sure wear a helmet, and whatever else you need to not be scared. When you are working on going backward, one of the hardest things (for me anyway) is not stopping just because you "feel" like you might run into something. It is very unlikely, and also it doesn't hurt much even if you do.

[ColDawG]

until you run into the neighbors' (parked) bmw after rounding a corner and make a foot-long dent that you have to tell them about and offer to pay to fix...
but on the bright side, it's been like 3 months and they haven't asked me to pay.. so i'm hoping they don't ever, fingers crossed


This was going backwards, FYI, and it didn't hurt me much, that's what the neighbors seemed most concerned about at first was my safety, but it sure shocked me and would've/still would suck to have to pay

[Unicyclist of Oz]

Wear a helmet. That's about all that I needed. But try not to learn on too steep of hills, otherwise you sometimes flip over and roll down the hill- on your head. That's what I did. And just to let you know, learning to ride backwards is like learning to ride all over again. Good luck!

[unicyclemichael]

I have never used a helmet, but it sounds like a good idea. I think you should wear shingaurds even if you have plastic peddles, all the time. I bought a crapy pair a month ago, and it eliminated the vast majority of unipain. Your shins will also look a lot nicer!

[MERCYME]

661 gear!

[James_Potter]

HELMET is like the most important thing EVER. you'll fall backwards a lot, and hitting your head on the concrete after a fall is a very, very bad idea.

[caw89]

Yeah, those are the few times i wear helmets is learnin to do things backwards, or when theres a high probability of falling backwards.