At our very successful 3rd meeting of the NY Unatics unicycling club, we were
treated to a foursome from the Bronx who rode miles to meet us. Amazingly, they
all came on Giraffes, and none of them even has a little uni any more.
Also amazing was the fact that all freemount by jumping up from the ground onto
the lower pedal and seat (simultaneously), then place the second foot on and
keep going straight (tho they can also go right into reverse). Basically they
mount like you would jump onto a really high Coker. I must say thay made a
convert of me – why try to climb the thing when you can just hop on? None of
them could even do the climbing method.
If you are tall and bouncy enough, this is definitely the way to go.
I have 5.5’ Unicycle Factory giraffe that a couple of my Scouts can free mount
by stepping on the lower pedal and then just jumping up. We also have a smaller
(5’) giraffe that my son, Woody, can, mount like a regular unicycle. He puts
the seat between his legs, one foot on a pedal and pushes up with the other
foot; then he pedals backward to bring himself the rest of the way up. He now
uses a cross between technique and a running mount to free mount our 6’
Schwinn. Instead of starting by putting the seat between his legs he takes two
steps then jumps to hit the bottom pedal as it rises, sits and pedals backward.
It looks like the uni isn’t at a steep enough angle to be able to roll the
wheel under himself (and push himself up on top), but it works. And, it doesn’t
take up much space. Once he is mounted he is in about the same spot where he
was when he started.
John Hooten
David Stone wrote:
> At our very successful 3rd meeting of the NY Unatics unicycling club, we were > treated to a foursome from the Bronx who rode miles to meet us. Amazingly, > they all came on Giraffes, and none of them even has a little uni any more. > > Also amazing was the fact that all freemount by jumping up from the ground > onto the lower pedal and seat (simultaneously), then place the second foot on > and keep going straight (tho they can also go right into reverse). Basically > they mount like you would jump onto a really high Coker. I must say thay made > a convert of me – why try to climb the thing when you can just hop on? None > of them could even do the climbing method. > > If you are tall and bouncy enough, this is definitely the way to go. > > David Stone