I’ve learned to mount unicycles from different videos. Especially the ones Terry Peterson made. Over time I have adapted/developed these techniques to fit me. I thought it would be fun (and maybe helpfull to others) to make a tutorial.
Well produced tutorial. Sometimes the ones with no speaking are the best.
Like your other video of the reduction in wheel diameter as you ride towards the camera. Great idea!
Nice!
Putting weight on the seat and the handle, to balance out the weight on your back pedal, was something I didn’t get from any of the tutorials I saw when I was learning. I thought you just somehow kept all your weight off the back pedal while magically leaping into position…
Thank you! I have yet to master my free mount so I’m always looking for new ideas.
Nice tutorial!
Excellent job!!!
I didn’t know it was even POSSIBLE to freemount “slow”. My best mounts are not rushed, but this is taking it to a new level.
Love it. I have more work to do on the FM. I knew it; just didn’t know what to do. Now I have stuff to work on.
Thanks for the vid. I bet it was more work than meets the eye…
The main improvement with the video would have been posting it a couple of months earlier.
By far the best freemount explanation I have ever seen.
I have just managed to get a freemount working using exactly this technique which I worked out for myself. I was thinking that I should try to explain it with a diagram and the force arrows but you have done it so much better in a video.
This is exactly where I started after seeing a video about practicing jumping up onto blocks without crushing a paper cup under the stationary foot.
Part of the problem with that technique is that uni is free to move about while you leap making it hard to hit the other pedal. Then when you do hit, the sudden change of forces can take you anywhere unless you get everything exact.
The force balancing technique effectively wedges the uni in position. Moreover the forces in the leap transfer the weight naturally from the foot on the pedal to the seat.
The exact speed of the jump is not as critical. Jumping harder just gets you up faster rather than taking you too far. As such the technique tends to automatically result in a static mount. I have tried hard to jump past this point to get some forward lean so I get moving. I find it is next to impossible
Consequently the technique requires the rider to be able to balance momentarily in the stationary position. My success in the mount has come with this ability.
What is now beginning to work is the ability to ride backwards which is encouraged by the mounts that just don’t quite make it to the static posiiton. I had never gotten anywhere with the mount that uses the downward force on the pedal to move the uni backwards but that is now coming too.
Definitely recommend this technique as the first way to freemount for any new rider.
Thanks for the response. I’m happy to hear that you like my video, Your views are much appreciated. 
Well done!
Thanks for thinking of the balancing forces and diagramming it.
The static mount is definitely useful when riding over irregular surfaces. It’s something I learned naturally, but my wife struggles with. She does a rollback mount. I don’t do that one well.
The rolling mount is definitely useful on the 36, especially when the cranks get shorter. Thanks for showing it at the end. It’s maybe time to talk to the neighbors though about the fence…
Revelation
That’s exactly what I thought. Discovering that I DON’T have to defy gravity is welcome news indeed. I’m going to want to study that video of UniMyra’s, because it looks so easy and effortless. And you can do this SLOWLY, take your time finding the second pedal, and the pedal doesn’t come whipping back to strike your shin? Oh happy day! This truly deserves the label “static mount,” because the pedals are ENTIRELY static, giving you all the time in the world to get on the uni. I’m blown away. Prior to this, I thought I needed to develop weightlessness in order to freemount.
I have been studying the video and trying out the technique, but I’m still not getting it. UniMyra–you make it look so easy! The wheel still wants to roll back under me. Am I not leaning on the seat enough?
Yes. The seat should be firmly wedged and held back with the pressure on the pedal.
Are you sure you have the seat set high enough? If it s too low the pressure will come off it before you get the frame close enough to vertical and allow the wheel to roll back.
Jump forwards and upwards.
A piece of advice that I have read for static mounting is “jump higher”. It works. That was for the canonical static mount, but it seems that it would still apply for the version where you’re pushing forward with the saddle if you’re having trouble with putting too much pressure on the rear pedal. Jumping higher, besides being a handy mantra, gives you upward momentum so you actually can put little enough pressure on the rear pedal to balance against your forward push.
Even now that I can static mount, the mantra still helps me when I’'m temporarily having a hard time with it. Usually, that occurs when I am trying to mount on an uphill grade, which requires a higher jump anyway.
Probably yes. Don’t push your left foot down, but try to hold it still when you mount. Try to practice the first half of the mount, where you just lift your right foot a little bit off the ground and put it down again.
I don’t really jump. I sort of push forwards and upwards with my right foot and let the uni lift me up. Think of a pole vault jumper.
I like the instruction, and love knowing it’s possible to freemount with virtually NO movement of the wheel (or, more importantly, the pedals). One criticism, though, is the constant references to left and right. I use my right foot on the back pedal and try to land my left foot on the front pedal… so after all your references to right-left, I have to think “opposite” and try to keep it straight. Saying back-front instead of left-right would’ve been more universal. Just saying.
I thought of using the term dominant/non dominant foot, but I have never figured that one out so I went with left/right. Front/back would have been better.
No worries. ; )
And “dominant, non-dominant” sounds clunky, doesn’t it?
This video has helped me but I don’t put my hand on the saddle. I make sure my back pedal/foot are slightly above horizontal. At that angle the pedal seems to stay in place if I put pressure on it before starting. When I hop with my second foot I push up and forward slightly with the back foot while also putting pressure into the seat. My wheel still moves a bit but when every thing comes together I can balance for a second and push off with my second foot/pedal. I feel I’m getting closer to a true static mount.
Thanks UniMyra:D
I developed the kind of mount in the video by holding onto whatever I could find at hand.
Fences were good. I could fully brace my forearm along it to keep me steady. As I got better I relied less and less on the support and progressed to the posts supporting street signs which I just gripped in my hand to stop the rollback.
Eventually I didn’t have to hold anything.
I like how this video shows the struggle.