I have been using only freemounts during my practice sessions for the last
week or so. I use the static mount, in other words, no roll backs for me.
The thing is my ability to freemount seems so erratic. Lots of times I
start a practice session with an awesome smooth freemount, right off the
bat, first try of the day. Then later on I spend half a dozen tries before
hitting it right again, then one right off, first try and then I hit another
spell of 5 - 7 before I get going.
I know that I have the basics but am a little unsure as to why my mounts are
so erratic. Is that just how it goes when you are first learning? If so,
no worries, I can patiently keep at it. But I just wondered if there were
some key points that I might be overlooking. Is there something that I
could be doing better to make my freemounts more consistent?
Also, I noted that at Level 2 the uni rider is expected to mount with right
foot as well as left foot. At this point I am only mounting with my right
foot first on the pedal. At what point do you start practicing with the
other foot… I would think probably after you have got the mount mastered
on one side… any ideas would be appreciated.
My experience is that with almost all new tricks or skills that after “getting it” somewhat, there will be practice sessions where it is simply gone. This happens continuously until it is really “got”. (And even after a skill is mastered there will be the occassional “where the hell did it go?” moments). Just keep practicing, figure out what isn’t working and make the adjustments. It’ll come.
As for mounting on both sides, I would recommend starting to work on the opposite mount as soon as possible. I mount only with my left foot down and regret not starting to work on the right foot down mount much sooner. Now it’s a real drag for me that I have to invest so much time to get the mount down and simply haven’t put in the necessary effort. I believe it is generally agreed that the earlier you start learning skills ambidexterously the easier it is to carry this forward with each new skill.
> I know that I have the basics but am a little unsure as to why my mounts are
> so erratic. Is that just how it goes when you are first learning? If so,
> no worries, I can patiently keep at it. But I just wondered if there were
> some key points that I might be overlooking. Is there something that I
> could be doing better to make my freemounts more consistent?
Hi Erin,
Nice to get a progress report. I think what you are experiencing is
pefectly normal.
Having just been through this myself I know exactly what you mean. I can
now hit my freemount most of the time with the occasional second try. I
think it just requires practice. My daughter learned to freemount a
couple of days ago. I told her she might lose her new skill because
that’s what happened to me. So guess what… both yesterday and today
her thrill is gone- or rather the skill is gone. She knows she can do it
and she knows she will do it again but like you, she is a bit
frustrated.
> Also, I noted that at Level 2 the uni rider is expected to mount with right
> foot as well as left foot. At this point I am only mounting with my right
> foot first on the pedal. At what point do you start practicing with the
> other foot… I would think probably after you have got the mount mastered
> on one side… any ideas would be appreciated.
Like all skills I think you start, you practice and eventually you just
get it. I have tried to mount left a couple of times (I’m a righty), it
really feels awkward, yes? I’ll start trying again soon, right now I
have been practicing maneuvering by doing sharp turns and figure eight’s
and the like.
Just a thought from a non-expert.
When I was learning to free mount, I had much less trouble with a lower than normal seat height (so you don’t have to back pedal so far). It may not help, but it only takes a minute to experiment with seat height. If it helps, you can always raise the seat back up after you master the mount. And practicing with the other foot is good to start soon, but probably not until you master the process with your dominant foot. Good luck. And as with anything, the longer it takes to learn, the more you’ll appreciate it later.
I don’t know where this ‘originally posted by’ comes from, but I typed it as ‘dominant’ (lower case and spelled correctly, I think, but I’m not a member of the spelling police that have been correcting people). I ment tu sae 'knot untill yuv mastird it with the fut that werks best.
My experience was similar. I went cold turkey away from the fence, then I spent two weeks doing at least 100 successful mounts (read: sometimes 5-600 tries; up to 4 hours) each day. By the time that period was over, I was pretty consistent on the dominant foot static freemount. I didn’t mix feet but some others would. Many hours later, I still miss one of those mounts now and then, but it is rare.
For level 2 I did the rollback for the non-dominant foot. I still haven’t focused on the non-dominant static mount.
your experience does show the normal learning curve
which isn’t really a curve
more like a graph with peaks, troughs and plateaus
when u find yourself troughing or plateuing, it may be that u r ignoring some of the basics that made it work for u in the beginning
a sense of arrogance creeps in
trust the uni (the great leveller - in more ways than one) to bring u back to earth (in more way…oh, u got it? kewl.)
look far away, not down at your pedals
after u get the freemount, the temptation creeps in to look at the pedals so u can get a better foot placement and, hey presto! there goes the freemount)
keep your back as straight as possible
good posture helps
dont hold the seat in the front
use that arm for waving about
go back to basics
also, pay attention to what it feels like when u do it right
if u have a clearer picture of ‘success’, it’s easier to correct ‘failure’
start practising the ‘other’ foot mount now
teach yourself to do that
an old zen truism states that ’ to teach is to learn twice’
I don’t know if this would be the same for everyone, but I found the consistency of my freemounting improved heaps when I started practicing/using a roll-back mount. With a static mount, I just found that there’s too much chance of getting caught with the pedals vertical and losing balance.
I’ve been working on mounting with my non-preferred foot for a while now, and it was the same deal for it… I can nail a higher percentage of mounts when I do a roll back mount.
