On a good day, I can freemount one out of 4 times. On a crappy day (and sadly, this is more typical) I can freemount one out of fifteen times.
If unicycling were the fourth grade, I would be that kid who keeps getting left back, reason: Failing the subject of freemounting. Again and again.
I mean, once I’m up and going, I ride really well. I just always need a fence or a stop sign, and frankly, it is a real drag to always need a prop to get going.
I’ve researched this problem endlessly–I checked out lots of web pages on the subject, and other unicyclists have personally showed me how its done. I get up on the thing, pedals at three and nine, then I tip over to the right before I can get going.
I CAN do it, I’ve done it many times, it’s just that I am way inconsistent, and most of the time, it’s a flop. It’s like having a car that works fine, except for the starter moter, which works only sometimes.
I admit I’m a slow learner, I’m 44, 6’3" and I ride a 26 inch nimbus muni with a 3 inch wide tire. I sent away for a 24 inch “Gravity” (sort of like a Sun) unicycle to practice on, but freemounting on that seemed just as difficult–and besides, my daughter is having a blast on it, so I let her have it.
Funny thing–when I get going via a decent freemount, I ride much, much better than with a fence or stopsign mount.
Question:
Has anyone out there ever found themselves with the freemounting blues? You know, being able to ride the unicycle, but taking forever to get freemounting right? How long did it take you to get over it?
I look forward to the day when freemounting is as effortless as hopping on a bike.
Cheers, (but actually bummed…)
Dogbowl (Steve)
freemounting blues…
Sorry about the frustration level!! I’m sure it’ll turn into a new effortless level in your riding until you take on the next challenge. Another great thing about uni…there’s always something more to learn. Are you pushing down on the 9 o’clock foot? I find that with my best freemounting side (left foot closer, right farther) I have the sensation that the leg is just solidly in place and I step up with some momentum to carry my weight into a forward motion, instead of pushing down on the close foot to bring the uni under me. It feels smoother, and the far (in my case, right) pedal is in a predictably uniform position for landing on and continuing to ride with the forward momentum of my stepping up. You’ve probably heard this, or tried it…but for me it makes sense because my weaker freemount side still has a tendency to step on the pedal instead of anchor the leg and step up onto the uni.
Hope you find success soon!
I personally have found success in doing the rollback mount. I never learned uni by hanging onto anything. It was always mount first and then try to ride away. But anyway, that’s beside the point. Try putting your good pedal at the bottom and slightly back towards you. Put your good foot on it and just step up on it. If you didn’t get anywhere, rock forward just a bit before you step up. If you go over the top, either your pedal was too far back or you rolled forward too far. When you get it just right, catch the other pedal with your other foot, make a 1/8 turn backwards to get your weight out in front and then ride away.
Can anyone add to that or correct me if I’m wrong?
Sigurd
In answer to your question, no, but it was a long time ago. I’m not sure you’re looking for advice, you didn’t ask for any. I like the cigar sig line. I used to roll cigarettes while I was riding. Then I quit. Smoking, not riding.
Unsolicited advice follows.
Remember when you were learning to ride? You had to make mistakes in order to make corrections. That’s how you learned. You got on and tried for that first pedal revolution and when you got that, you fell off. But you learned how to make corrections each time you went a little further and you didn’t care which way you turned or jerked because staying on was the important part.
I recommend that you do the same thing while learning to freemount. Twist, turn, flail, and jerk all over the place. Don’t worry if you start going the wrong direction, just try to stay on. This means don’t step off. Fall off, don’t chicken out. If you intend to go east but get on and have to twist around until you’re facing north to stay up, go with it. That means learning to freemount where there’s lots of space, not on a sidewalk which is narrow. You’re learning how to make corrections while freemounting this way.
It’s easier to freemount going downhill. Learn that way if you have to. Even if you have to turn all the way around after getting on, you’re still learning. You’re not in a rut. Try a roll back mount. It sounds like you prefer the static mount but try something different for awhile.
Good luck. Go to Canada and get a Cuban when you’ve got it down.
Steve,
Of course everybody is different, but for what it’s worth I’ll tell you what worked for me:
I was trying to learn the rollback mount because that’s what was suggested in the book I had (the one by Charlie Dancey) and was getting nowhere. Then I started reading this forum and looking at video tutorials and decided to give the static mount a go. I found that MUCH easier. One thing that helped me was to exaggerate the wheel movement (roll forward as you step on the pedal) and not to put too much pressure on the pedal (concentrate on putting weight on the saddle rather than the pedal). I learnt on a 20", but I use the same mount on my 26x3 Nimbus - just takes a little bit more pressure on the pedal to hold it still, but not much. I’m still hopeless at the rollback mount, but I can do the static mount almost every time with either foot.
Oh, another thing that was good at first was to put a block of wood behind the wheel (or start against a kerb) to stop it shooting back if you put too much pressure on the pedal. When you get the feel of the mount, do it without the kerb/block.
I did most of my freemount practice on grass as well, so it didn’t hurt when I got it wrong! (coward)
I hope that is some help to you, and good luck.
Rob
I would just add to what has been said upper:
just forget anything can help you for mounting. don’t ride if you didn’t free mount…
when you don’t succeed with free mount, close your eyes, breathe deeply three times (or more) and think about a pleasent thing that doesn’t concern uni and then go for it.
If you ever succeeded your reflexes must begin to show up… just trust them. 
Please excuse me for approximate English
:o
Riding day, dream away…
still riding, still dreaming.
I’ve always been a slow learner and moreover I learned uniing at 54.
So I know freemounting blues.
Try to turn the blues into music!
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I am stubborn and do not feel humiliated when I miss again and again.I breethe, smile, play the music and dance into freemounting … Oops missed again. funny. let’s start again
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I succeed when my body does the trick without notifying my brain … that’s Zen!
hope this helps
bear
Having passed the worst freemount blues I’ve made these conclusions about the static mount:
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just before thrusting my body forwards, I think: No weight on the right foot! which is my good (leading) foot.
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before the jump I curl my back over the uni in order to minimise the physical effort
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I strech out my (left) hand forward as balance guide while the right hand is holding the saddle by its front handle
If I only remember to curl my back over the uni and thinking not to put any weight on the back pedal, it all become one smooth action.
Having a 24" I know how tired one can be after a dozen unsuccesful mounts. But with persistent training it will come!
goldenchicken born 1954
a couple of thoughts that worked for me freemounting the giraffe
commit to only ever riding from a freemount
ever
‘From This Day Forward…’ and all that
take a deep breath, exhale and only move into the freemount about a third of the way thru the outbreath
if u take a deep gasp of air as u go, it’s quite normal to hold your breath, locking your upper body rigid
u need the upper body to be loose so u can roll with the corrections
breathe out and go a third of the way thru the outbreath
be precise in the detail of setting up the mount
have the pedal at the same angle
make sure your ‘other’ foot is the same distance away from the uni
check all the detail and make sure u replicate it as closely as possible everytime u mount
it will come
Zzagg’s idea is a good one.
When I was learning to ride, after I learnt to ride about 5 metres ther was nowhere i could ride where there was anything to hold onto, even for mounting. That meant that I had to learn to freemount before i could ride.
With the giraffe however, i had a handy telegraph pole to mount with, so when i couldn’t freemeount, rather than perservering with it, i would just give up and head for the pole.
I can freemount the giraffe one in five times if i’m lucky, but i can step onto the 20" uni without even thinking about it. Pick a warm(ish) day, and go and keep trying, force yourself to learn to do it…
If I remember correctly, I got better when I only tried to get on the seat. (no riding away once on)
Try keeping your lead foot still on the petal, and push forward with base foot keeping your back vertical to ground (no leaning forward), and meet your base foot to the forward petal.
This leads to a fluid forward motion to the seat.
(looks effortless)
If you find yourself having to hop onto the seat trying my way, lower the seat alittle, until you nail it consistantly, then put it back.
Within 3 months of lerning of riding ( on the tarmak) I was freemountins 26"…9 out of 10. Then I’ve lost it.Then I got it again.
Very distressed I have decided I am getting old.
Then I have recalled how kids are plaing not bothering about final outcome of what they create. I thought…I enjoy unicycling. Most of my life I was doing things in order to get RESULT. So I have decided to let myselve be withe the subject of freemouniting.
Recently I have dilscovered …loocking to the opposite siede of front foot helps me to get there. I wished to be consistent and progress…I can’t…so what! Let enjoy it! It may come.So many thigs and ‘succeses’ were granted to me, against all odds. So… let have fun.
Within 3 months of lerning of riding ( on the tarmak) I was freemountins 26"…9 out of 10. Then I’ve lost it.Then I got it again.
Very distressed I have decided I am getting old.
Then I have recalled how kids are plaing not bothering about final outcome of what they create. I thought…I enjoy unicycling. Most of my life I was doing things in order to get RESULT. So I have decided to let myselve be withe the subject of freemouniting.
Recently I have dilscovered …loocking to the opposite siede of front foot helps me to get there. I wished to be consistent and progress…I can’t…so what! Let enjoy it! It may come.So many thigs and ‘succeses’ were granted to me, against all odds. So… let have fun.
Within 3 months of learning of riding ( on the tarmak) I was freemounting 26"…9 out of 10. Then I’ve lost it.Then I got it again.
Very distressed I have decided… I am getting old.
Then I have recalled how kids are plaing, not bothering about final outcome of what they create. I thought…I enjoy unicycling. Most of my life I was doing things in order to get a RESULT. So I have decided to let myselve be with the subject of freemouniting.
Recently I have dilscovered …loocking to the opposite siede of front foot helps me to get there. I wished to be consistent and progress…I can’t…so what! Let enjoy it! It may come.So many things and ‘succeses’ were granted to me, against all odds. So… let have fun.
I learned last year at 43 and went though some of the same. I see bits and pieces of how I got better in the replies above. Once I was able to freemount that 1:4 or 1:15 times I refused to go back to an aid (a lightpost in my case). I spent several days of practice sessions doing nothing but mount, go for a short distance, dismount, repeat. Then I took several days off to give the muscle memory a chance to sort things out. Like Harper suggest I didn’t worry at all about direction or distance. Just kept doing mounts. I’d tweak the pedal position. I’d play with foot placement. I’d play with the tilt of the uni. It was all just to do as many mounts as possible until my body figured out what worked and to get the hang of it. I’ve always found that when doing something like this it’s good to take a few days off after dedicated practice to let things settle in. Those were some great workouts too. I’d be drenched with sweat.
Re: Got the freemounting blues!
Try freemounting a 20 inch. I find that easier. With the bigger wheel you have to jump to get up on it.
Hang in there. Keep trying. I learned to ride last year at age 50. I can freemount.
Re: Got the freemounting blues!
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 23:38:56 -0500, “dogbowl” wrote:
>Question:
>Has anyone out there ever found themselves with the freemounting blues?
>You know, being able to ride the unicycle, but taking forever to get
>freemounting right? How long did it take you to get over it?
<raises hand>. I could ride reliably by October 2000, 5 weeks (20
hours) after starting to learn. It took me until March 2001 to get my
freemounting good enough to be tested for level 1.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“I (…) made it without dying, which means mere mortals can do it. - John Foss”
My $.02
Here are a couple of suggestions that you can try. While learning to freemount this past year, I tried the following, which helped me learn how, successfully.
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Try mounting with the opposite foot.
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Try mounting while holding the seat with the opposite hand than which you’ve been doing. (This had a big effect for me)
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Put a lot of your weight onto the hand that is holding the seat.
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When you step up onto the uni, make sure that you are straight up over the tire. Any lean to one side or the other will make it more difficult.
I had the most success with my left foot on the bottom pedal and left hand on the seat. If I tried mounting with my right hand on the seat, I would tip to one side.
- When you start having a little success, start working on another skill. eg. turning, figure 8s. This will take your mind off what you’re doing and you’ll still have plenty of freemounting practice while learning a new skill.
While I was learning (i.e. trying to FM repeatedly with no success) a passerby suggested: “Why don’t you just run and get it going and jump on.”
My frustration may have showed when I laughed and said “Here, you try!”. He demurred.
Suggestions for FM improvement:
Take 10 or 20 tries before using a prop, but then reward yourself with a spin around the block.
When the good foot get’s better than 50%, take few tries with the bad foot before giving in and mounting with the good foot.
Two skills that I’ve learned have really made my freemounting easier. Idling and hopping. Both of these skills have helped me to get used to balancing and pausing on the unicycle, staying centered over the wheel.
It may be an idea to work on some hopping, especially trying to relax and only hop to correct for balance and not doing a steady pogo stick type constant hopping.
I learned to idle by holding onto a railing and then by holding onto a nylon strap that I attached to the ceiling in my basement. Once I was better at idling, it was easier for me to rock the wheel backwards, forwards or to the side to make a quick balance adjustment when needed on a sloppy freemount.
I’m not sure what other skills you have worked on and mastered. Idling and hopping may seem like advanced skills to you. But they are skills that are well worth your time to work on and I have found as I got better at them, I also got more confident on freemounting. I still miss s freemount once in a while. I think it’s just the unicycle’s way of keeping me humble.
Stick with it, it’ll come. The rewards are greater when you work hard to achieve it.
Bill