I was wondering about how long it took you to to learn to free mount? I’ve spent about 7 hours or so, and have made almost no progress. I put the rigt pedal in about the 7:00 position and try to hop on, but I can get my weight shifted on to the seat most of the time. And when I do finally get up, I can never move. I am stuck, but not a 12 and 6, at like, 9 and 3. Any advice?
It took me maybe an hour, but I had done lots of mounting with support. Just keep doing it next to a wall/pole and use it less and less. Some people find it helpful to pedal the uni backwards .5 rev,which sets them up tilted forward so they can ride forwards easier. Personally I just push off the ground a bit harder to get in my forward tilt.
I learned while learning to ride. It took a while, I guess. It came about a day after I learned to ride.
i had the same problem. i eventually overcame it by switching my foot position to right foot 3:30 or 4:00 and left foot at 9:30 or 10:00. i am right footed, but if you’re a lefty, just flip those around.
It’s times like this it would be handy to have a non digital watch, although this is probably the only time…
I’ll explain how I freemount. I put the right pedal in 9 oclock position, sometimes a little higher. Put my right foot on the pedal, and have my weight on my left foot. If I don’t use my hands I position the seat in my crotch where it’ll be at a good place when I jump, although you can hold the front of the seat with your hand, I use my left. The main thing is to either hop enough that you don’t put weight on the right pedal, or try to push the uni front slightly when you jump, either way it shouldn’t go backwards. I don’t think getting your weight on the seat is as important as getting both feet on the pedals, hopefully where you want them, I usually have to fix how i’m sitting anyways to get comfy.
I know thats a bit long, but it takes just a second or two, the faster you jump the more time you have to make adjustments, but after you get it you only get more comfortable with doing it, and soon you’ll be like " hey, i’m good" : )
Andrew
Check out the static mounting tutorial on unicycle.2ya.com
Also, make sure to keep ALL of your weight on the seat.
i dunno, i put equal weight on seat and back pedal, and that gives me more time to put my other foot on the front pedal.
yeah i learnt like that too. you ride along and when you fall you try and get back on. when you have to wald to a light pole every time you fall off you learn to freemount pretty quickly.
or if you don’t want to even bother with that you could do what i did for my first trip away from the 50m radius around my house. take your little brother with you, while he is riding on a scooter. make sure hes close by when you upd
Dont try so hard - hold on to something and learnt to rock or idle - freemounting it will come to you - you’re just having a mental block becos you’ve now learnt not to do it.
Leave freemounting alone for a week.
Learn to ride backwards.
i never tried anything other than freemounting
Sorry, saw the thread title and thought it was a special offer…
It took me about 17 years to learn to freemount well, but that was because I was self taught,and used the 12 and 6 o’clock positions.
Try the 10 past 8 position, with the lower pedal nearer to you.
Put the seat “in place”. Put your foot on the near pedal. Give the uni a gentle push forwards until tyou feel the pedal pushing up against the sole of your foot, then put enough back pressure on to lock the wheel, and pivot up into position.
Mysterious levitation is a useful technique too.
Freemounting is a skill that comes with idling and reversing. The problem isn’t getting up into the riding position - it;s the transfer from not riding to riding. You need to develop confidence at low speeds and when “stalled”.
Good luck.
If you still cannot manage to freemount - practice these things.
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Ride along, stop the unicycle, then ride forward; essentially you are practicing riding off from a freemount. Do this with both left and right foot forward.
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Learn to ride backwards, which is in fact remarkably easy.
Re: Free Mounting Time
“fontiminal” <fontiminal@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> 2. Learn to ride backwards, which is in fact remarkably easy.
Remarkably easy? Hmm. I think backwards riding is surprisingly hard.
I’ve been working on it off and on for months and I’m still only 50%
at going 10 meters backwards. I’m better at riding forwards one
footed. Still, backwards seems easier than idling, another
recommended step to freemounting that seems backwards to be,
My suggestion for learning to freemount is focusing on making an
accurate jump as you mount. The goal is to hop up and balance
momentarily on the saddle before starting to fall forward then
correcting by riding off. Actually, you can carry a small amount of
forwards momentum, but finding the balance point is critical. I think
rolling back is easier because the jump can be smaller (less
physical), but it makes little difference if you have strong legs.
That’s my $/50.
Ken
It is?!?! Well, I be darn. I’ll have to tell myself that next time I try it.
i’d have to agree with newtounie on that one. riding backwards waas one of the hardest and most frustrating experiences of my short life.
Re: Re: Free Mounting Time
When you ride backwards, do you look over your shoulder?
I was just surprised at how easy I found riding backwards, once I had practiced coming to a halt and then riding off forwards, it was just a logical step to then ride away backwards. When you can swim on top of the water it is not hard to swim under it - sort of approach.
Although am still struggling with one foot riding
Cheers have a good day,
JJ
Additional:
I forgot to ask, you riding a 20 or 24" when trying to go backwards, I ride a 24", but have just switched to a 20". The reason is that my knees have started to hurt again, when on the 24", so I am trying the 20" to see if it helps.
JJ
I think this is probably unusual, but I actually learned to freemount before I learned to ride.
Being entirely self-taught and not having found all the brilliant websites that can help you, I sort of thought that you had to get on and ride all in one. So after several whole days of non-stop trying to freemount I finally did it and wobbled off for a few pedals.
I have the left pedal a little back from 6 and the right a little forward from 12. My left foot is on the pedal and holds the uni in place, the right is on the ground with the pedal flat against my calf. I’m sitting on the seat and step back onto the right pedal for a quarter turn back then pedal forward.
I can now side-mount which I learned from one of the web site’s instructions that were great. It seems even easier than the rollback, but maybe that’s because I now have a better sense of balance when on the uni. The main thing is keep trying.
Can you point me in the direction of the side mount instructions please.
Thanks
JJ