Part of my desire to tame my 29er is to be able to drop off of objects. I’m having a heck of a time mounting it while I’m on top of a relatively small object (like a small boulder, or objects at the local play ground). What is the preferred method to get up on it when there is little room?
So far it’s looking like a jump mount might be the easiest, but so far I don’t have the balls to do it when I’m up on top of something.
I could do this when I had a 20" but the 29" is soooo much bigger in this respect, who knew 9" could make such a big difference.
When I’m on my 29er, I find that holding the wheel with one hand to stop it rolling away, and holding the saddle in-front with the other hand and then getting both feet onto the pedals before sitting on the saddle works best for me.
I’d recomed a static or jump mount, whichever you are most comfortable with. To get used to it you could practice mounting on something small but low to the ground (like a flat yard stone or short plank of wood) so if you slip off, no big deal. Hop a few times to gain your composure then jump off, then work up to your small boulders.
Yeah, I guess it all comes down to practice in the end with everything here…
I began screwing around with different types of mounts and came up with kind of a hybrid jump/static mount combo, maybe I could call it the “jumptastic” mount . Put my right foot on the back pedal, holding the seat applying pressure to the seat, then jumping up with my left foot onto the front pedal.
I definitely need lots of practice, starting low to the ground to build my confidence.
Another thing that is screwing me up is my preferred mounting position (left foot back) is the opposite as my preferred hopping position (right foot back). Not sure how this happened, so I’m having to work hard on my bad side mounts (and I guess bad side hops).
When you start to do this stuff on a big uni, you really understand why the trials unis are small.
. Put my right foot on the back pedal, holding the seat applying pressure to the seat, then jumping up with my left foot onto the front pedal.