Quick update: After work this evening i went out for a quick practice using some of the techniques and advice you lovely lot have given, i am starting to get some more level of success this is down to two factors:
Thanks to JohnFoss, who pointed out my previous error. Prior to dismounting my feet need to be horizontal (like it is when you mount, right foot in front) with right foot on last and right foot off first.
Like Pierrox and others pointed out, brakes are handy to dismount and i practiced using the brakes and not using them, and using them really made a difference.
Both of these points helped hugely in getting a 50/50 success rate, will keep practicing using these two points mainly. Although i do dismount correctly on these few occassions, they definitely arent elegant or graceful dismounts, but that should come with time, at least i am coming off the right end
Thank you everyone!! Really appreciate EVERYONES input!
I was pretty much the same as you, I always dismounted from the front, it was pretty controlled and I just stepped off the front and took hold of the handle, I think it looked okay. As JimT says a handlebar is not an issue, I stepped off the front of my 29"er with a handlebar with no problems.
I had on occasion tried to step off the back and when I managed to do it I wondered why I couldn’t do it consistently since it seemed easy. I think the reason was that I came off the back very early on when learning to ride and tore the back of my calf up pretty badly with the pedal pins, so I think I developed a fear of leaning back at the very beginning – basically I think I have a mental block on leaning back.
What I found which made a big difference to me was instead of leaning back before stepping off I just bend ever so slightly at the waist, sort of sticking my bottom back a bit while keeping my body upright, then step off. It probably has the same effect on my centre of gravity as leaning back but my head thinks it is still upright or even leaning forward
I’m not 100% consistent in dismounting this way but it made a big difference for me. I’m hoping that in time the apparent fear of leaning back will diminish by doing this.
sometimes i learn new things by forcing the situation, so when i learned that rear dismounts were proper form i gave myself a “crash course” by riding up to a wall and bumping it lightly with my tire. In my case i found myself stepping off the back to save a sideways fall. Worked for me
Yes, RichardC, I see what you mean. Rear dismount is like a half backwards idle. It’s not just pressing down on the back pedal, but you must “pull back” on the top pedal.
I was really watching myself on the unicycle today. I can understand how a novice might have a problem, but for an experienced rider there is something missing in their skill toolbox and possibly a few phobia’s. So, I hope this can help.
I cannot really help NickG unless I can really watch him ride, but I’ve known a few unicyclists who had similar issue of being afraid to rear dismount.
Their reasons were as follows:
1.) Rider is afraid/doesn’t trust pressing back pedal when slowing at a 3 & 9 o’clock position, because he was so “conditioned” to never press down on the rear foot(9 o’clock) during free mounting. I helped this guy by just encouraging him to ditch the 3/9 and learn to do the idle freemount(a.k.a. rock back free mount).
2.) Rider is afraid/doesn’t trust pressing back pedal down because he might end up at 6 & 12 o’clock position(the dead zone), because he always understood that the “dead zone” was to be avoided. I helped him by just encouraging him to spend some time “going back” to riding his unicycle and holding side of a wall for assistance to develop more leg power and overcome his fear. Apparently, he never learned it this way. He just got on and took off. It’s good practice to develop power/timing to slowly crank the gears past the 6 & 12 dead zone. You can actually rock your hips to initiate wheel spin. Also, if the dead zone is so bad how will you ever learn to do a one foot idle? Deadzone is not to be avoided, but to be overcome as another skill to make you a better rider.
(Sorry for my off-topic message)
Hi John Foss, I tried to send you an email with the address you provide on your personal website but I got an error message (the email address doesn’t exist).
Since private messaging here doesn’t work, is there another email address on which I can contact you?
