I’ve seen a couple threads here ( some are quite old ) discussing the options for free mounting uphill and very few ( I only saw one ) mention the option of mounting from in front of the unicycle.
Mounting from in front of the unicycle on an uphill slope has been very effective for me and makes the mounting part almost as trivial as a downhill static mount. There’s still the problem of gaining momentum from a standstill once you’ve mounted, but many of the other uphill techniques put you in standstill too, so it’s not much worse in that area.
When doing this “reverse mount”, it seems to help me if the non-dominant foot’s pedal is slightly lower than horizontal, since it seems harder to reach it when it’s horizontal.
Being able to start pedaling immediately is another ( very minor ) benefit. You don’t have to wait the 1/2 second while you swing past the balance point to start pedaling like you do with a normal static mount with the unicycle in front of you. If starting quickly was important, this would probably be helpful even on level surfaces.
U could mount slightly downhill, or sideways to the hill, then quickly turn uphill or rolling mount. Problem is if the road/trail isn’t wide enough or u can’t turn sharply enough (a half rev is usually enough for me).
I’ve never tried mounting backwards… Sounds sort of difficult! How many attempts did it take you to manage?
If it allows for a faster start as you say, this could be interesting for racing and just generally getting places faster.
Even uphill I usually just do the bog-standard static mount, though most of the hills I mount on aren’t massive and so only need me to jump a bit harder
Do you have any videos of this backwards mount? I wanna see!
If I remember correctly, I think I was getting somewhere around a 30 - 50 percent success rate after about an hour of practice, so it really wasn’t that hard to learn.
Bummer, b/c I’m having a heck of a time visualizing it.
Do you position the pedals the exact same way you do for a normal forward/uphill static mount coming from behind the uni? If so, the balance with your one foot extended far behind to be on the back/downhill pedal seems pretty awkward. If not (and you reverse the pedals), you really have a long travel with the second foot to reach back behind the uni and find the back/downhill pedal - all without being able to see it because it’s behind you (?).
Or, are you doing this as a rollback style mount where the pedals are not horizontal, but closer to 1:30/7:30?
I think we’re talking about a rollback-style mount, only it’s roll-forward. In a rollback mount you can keep going backwards; in a roll-forward mount you keep going forwards.
For gentle uphill grades, I find the rollback mount useful, but I’m still at the stage where my ability to freemount is extremely variable and is determined by factors that I’m not always aware of. For a steep hill, a rollback might be counterproductive.
The way I’m doing is like a regular static mount with the pedal horizontals, but from in front instead of behind. So you’d start in front of the unicycle, place a foot on the nearest pedal, sit on the seat and jump lightly backwards and place the other foot on the further pedal.
Because you’re already in front of the unicycle, you don’t have to jump as hard to climb on, since you don’t have to cross the balance point.
Yes, my biggest challange was trying to stay oriented with the unicycle behind me where I couldn’t see it, but eventually muscle memory takes over and it’s easy. This is where I found that having the pedal in front slightly lower than horizontal ( eg. 8 'o clock instead of 9 'o clock ) seemed to help me keep my foot on it and maintain my balance
