finally got it! kicked up my uni … and could actually ride off. wooopee!!
my mom’s quiet comment: “oh, nowadays you can flip it up like that…?”
very pleasing to get it after months of completely failed attempts, and several practice sessions full of near-misses…
a little of my, errr, ‘wisdom’ for would-be kickupers:
(a) don’t make the stupid mistake i made – for months i was putting the kickup foot in the wrong position, under the seat where the seat post meets the saddle. this is hopeless. the correct starting position is right where the saddle is supposed to meet the pants (or trousers, for brits).
many thanks to Ben Matthews for pointing out my error and correcting me. the very first time i tried kicking up using the correct method, the seat magically rose up to meet my thigh! (i didn’t manage to ride off, but that sure felt like a breakthrough moment).
(it was stupid of me to make this mistake because i’ve seen pictures, and even videos, of kickup mounts, but never noticed i was doing it wrong. goes to show that, you can learn plenty on your own, but sometimes there’s nothing like having somebody there to guide you. )
(and, yes, of course, that’s all that separates me from Anthony Gatto – a good mentor… ) 
(b) my suggested tip for learning kick-ups is to practice the side mount a lot … especially the ‘extreme side mount’ (you could call it the “pick-up mount”), where the unicycle begins lying on the floor, then you side mount it. i think it’s rather like the kick up mount, except that you’re using your hand, rather than foot, to lift the seat into position… so you learn something about how to get the uni up, shift your weight onto the seat, get your other foot onto the pedal, and ride off.
dunno if it works for you, but i think it helped me learn to kick-up.
julian
singapore
