Riding Backwards - Random Ah Ha moment

Had a small break through today in riding backwards. Although I'm still not riding much more than 5-10 backpedals its up from 1-2 and a sprained wrist so I'm calling that as a success.

The Ah Ha moment was remembering that when I was learning to ride forwards one of the natural and very useful intermediate steps towards riding in a more upright posture was to first bend a lot at the hips so that my weight was spread across top dead center  ( directly above the cranks) rather than teetering directly over it. A perfectly upright posture puts all your weight right over top dead center so the balance needed to control this is much finer than when my weight is extended both sides.

There are two ways to distribute your weight around top dead center. The first is to push your pelvis forward, head back, chest out. With this approach the unicycle leans away from the direction you're travelling. This has the added benefit of riding over small obstacles on the ground more smoothly. It also lends itself better to slower more controlled backwards pedaling because of the tendency to fall forward and not backwards. By luck this was the first approach I stumbled on and in hindsight I think its the best approach for beginning because of the more controlled and stable character. This is the method I practiced most today to get familiar with the feeling of being balanced while riding where I can't see.

 The second approach is to lean the uni towards the direction you want to travel and bend at the hips. Again, your weight is distributed across rather than balanced on top dead center so it is easier to balance, become aware of going off balance and recovering. This approach leads to much faster backwards riding because the tendency is to fall backwards which you naturally counter with faster pedaling. In contrast to the first method the uni leans towards the direction you're travelling and so if you encounter an obstacle on your path the uni is much more likely to fall backwards because of its orientation.

Update 11/1/2015:

Small improvement today. I found that the smoother I pedaled the more success I had. Key to this was avoiding the momentary stall that can happen a the deadspot when the cranks are vertical. To avoid this, as the cranks approach the deadspot I pointed the toes on my top foot towards the ground and pulled the crank through the deadspot. This made for a much smooth ride and better control. I also found that if the pedal action was erratic the wheel tended to twist under me and my backwards motion was a series of fish tails.

Update 12/1/15;

Confirmed at practice today that smooth pedaling is a key to dramatically improving distance and keeping direction going straight.  Regularly getting 10+ backpedals.

I found a comfortable posture that is in between the above 2. Slightly bent at the hips and keeping head up to focus on a fixed object at a distance.

Used back pedaling assisted by the stick to help get into position. Touched stick to ground when I felt like I was going off balance. Worked a treat.