Today, I took Sofa’s advice and DROVE the 1 mile to the neighborhood High School to practice on the Coker. There is a HUGE parking lot with a curb all the way around it to assist me in getting a good hop onto the uni. I freemounted on the second try and after a wobbly start, soon found my groove and was riding around doing very large figure eights. Riding without worrying about traffic in a level parking lot was much, much easier. I didn’t get to practice mounting much as I only UPD’d twice in a little over 3 miles of riding and remounted on the first try both times. I think there may be something wrong with the calibration of my computer though as I only managed an average of 6.2 mph in 32:04 minutes of ride time with a max of 10.5 mph.
I figure 3 miles in 32 minutes comes out to just over 9 mph. I still had an excellent ride and am looking forward to one more day of Cokering before I begin packing things up to get ready for a weekend of MUniing and mountainbiking
Re: Cokering day 3 - no krashin’!!!
Hooray! Another disciple, um convert, um,… nevermind.
It is a lot less stressful practicing without worrying about traffic. It is tough not being able to practice mounting because you only UPD twice. Maybe next time, you’ll only UPD once, then where will you be?
Re: Cokering day 3 - no krashin’!!!
Doesn’t that mean you aren’t going fast enough?
Daniel
Hey Kenny, for easier non-curb mounting, time for Sofa Advice #2:
Walk behine the Coker to get the wheel spinning. As your good pedal comes up and around, that’s when you leap up and land that foot on the pedal when it is at 9 oclock, then, the other foot can fall onto the other pedal at 3 oclock, already in position for your first power stroke, being assisted by the momentum you created by rolling it first.
You will find this easier and more controllable over curb static mounting almost instantly
Congrats on no crashing!
Some days I practice at the path around the high school track; each lap I stop and remount. Painful yes, also beneficial. I have short legs and this is not one of the things that is easy for me.
Spyder,
Using Sofa’s suggestion on mounting, maybe I won’t have to practice freemounting, then I’ll just have to ride forever 
Daniel,
Have faith, soon I’ll be going fast enough and post some more pictures 
Sofa,
Thanks!!!
BRAVO Kenny! You really seem to be making progress.
I’m reading all these posts and trying to remember all the tips for when I get out into the big wide world on my coker. Heck, I can’t stay in the front garden forever!
Thanks for the parking lot tip. Traffic where I live is awful! I sometimes get nervous driving my car round the roads. On my next childfree weekend I’ll drive the coker to the local shopping centre once they’ve closed for the day. That means that I must be riding unassisted by then (6/7 March, for the record), which will be my goal for now.
As for the good foot / bad foot debate, I’m doing my best to alternate feet when mounting and dismounting. It’s a carry over from learning to juggle where you consciously try to alternate the hand you start with. I know it’s a good habit to learn, and the earlier the better, I suppose.
Jayne
U-turn,
I’m feeling pretty confident about my freemounting (altough I am cheating by using the curb). I’ll probably spend some time soon trying Sofa’s rolling mount suggestion to see if it makes it easier to get my short legs off the ground,
Jayne,
Thanks, looks like you’re progressing quite well!!! I’ve been riding close to a year, but recently was forced to take 3 months off due to an injury. Riding the Coker is not as hard as I imagined it would be. My hat’s off to you for choosing a Coker to learn to ride. It’s good to alternate feet while still in the early stages!!!
Kenny,
I’m impressed that you had a 3 month layoff and managed to get back in the saddle so quickly. Every time I start a practice session I feel like I’m back at the beginning again. It can be so frustrating!
Jayne
Hi,
Once your confident on tarmac away from cars considering taking the Coker into the woods & non tarmac’d tracks, even better if it is slightly hilly.
I found this challenge, with no cars around, great in improving my confidence & control. After an hour or so I found that my road riding confidence had improved dramatically, especially down hill.
Cheers
Keith
Good point. It’s easy to have confidence on the road once you’ve done offroad. And you’ll get a lot more practice mounting that way as well!
Jayne,
Don’t get frustrated, you’ll always have good days with a few bad days thrown in to test your patience.
Keg,
Once I get a little more time on the Coker, it will probably see some trail action as I ride mostly MUni anyway. If I can find room in my Suburban, I might even take it to the race with me this weekend:D