I too am running a 24" with 150mm cranks and although I do have pedal strike caused UPDs sometimes I don’t have them as often as I used to. I think the main factor is experience and route “reading” or “line choice.” As I’ve been riding more and more trails I’ve gotten a lot better at being able to study the route ahead of me and not just focus, solely, and what’s right in front of me. It took some time to get proficient enough to be able to just “feel” the trail right in front in order to allow me time to study what’s coming. But since I’ve done that I’m a lot better and my choice of ride line and can usually avoid patches where I might have a pedal strike. On the other hand I’ve really taken to riding trials, especially in the summer when it’s so hot and humid it is hard to ride (plus the trails get all grown up and cobwebby, yuck!). But seriously my trials skills have really improved my off-road riding. The main effect I’ve seen is the ability to “recover” from a pedal strike, bump or other event that throws me off my intended “line.” Where before I’d just UPD now I can usually just go into some sort of small rolling hop and keep on going. This doesn’t always work, but I think having solid trials riding skills has really benefited my overall off-road riding experience.
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Completely 100% off topic, but I made this by copying + pasting this page into wordle.com. I was simultaneously surfing here and found wordle, so i decided to test it. It’s really cool, and I’m really bored lol.
Well, everyone else may be underwhelmed by this but I think it’s really cool 
- would make a nice T-shirt, if it wrapped right around…
Yes, in MUni language we call it a pedal strike. Sometimes you can’t avoid it if the rocks (or whatever) only have a narrow gap between them, but usually you can thread your way through tight spots if you have the proper pedal position. Shorter cranks will help of course, but 150 is a pretty normal size for MUni and, as you said, if you go shorter it will take away your leverage for the steeps and technical stuff.
So how do you control your pedal position when approaching an obstacle? With practice you can learn to anticipate where your pedals will be when you reach a certain spot. I learned this in my early days of curb-hopping. I used to have to ride toward a curb but have to curve if my pedals weren’t lined up, often ending up riding parallel to the curb before hopping. With more practice I learned to do a bit of zig-zagging before getting to the curb so my pedals would be where I wanted them when I got there. The same thing is possible on the trail, though sometimes conditions make it hard or maybe impossible.
Also if you’re going through something like a rock garden with multiple challenges real close together, it’s usually only possible to align your pedals for one of them. I always try to roll through “rollable” situations (which is probably why I’m not so good at hopping), but you can always do some hops to adjust also.
The worst part about pedal strikes is when they’re unexpectd. I remember once zooming along one of my local trails at high speed, and hitting a side rock I wasn’t expecting to hit. The problem was that there was a dropoff on the left, and the trail was curving to the right there. I went at a stumbling run, trying to keep from falling on my face, and had to grab a bush as I went off the side of the trail so I wouldn’t tumble down a rocky slope!
You can sometimes ride out of pedal strikes if you’re expecting them - if you keep your eye out for likely rocks, and keep hold of the seat.
Having said that, I fell down something called ‘break neck canyon’ in Australia because of one.
Best thing though is to twist your unicycle a bit to get round the rock and avoid the pedal strike.
It is also often the case that where the worst strikes happen is where you get a bunch of rocks that you need to roll through on a downhill, without too much route choice, and a narrow bit to drop into each time. You can mess with your foot position by whether you hop or not each time you drop off one rock onto the next. Rolling and hopping change your foot position differently, as do rolling hops. Doing little rolling hops is a very helpful way to get through rocky downhills. I think Kris H says something about this on one of his videos - it is something he seems to do all the time. You don’t need to be good at hopping to do em either, I can’t hop up much at all.
Joe
If it’s just rocks and such, I find it’s possible to learn how to avoid pedal strikes by looking ahead and planning. But the ones that always get me is when it’s worn in single track, and you get a long line of trail with a tall lip on one side. Compounded by being on a seep slope where one can’t really avoid the rut, I find this very frustrating. Then again, I run 175s.
I made this lovely video the other day…
Hey Jackie, looks like you could have fun with a 36er and full body armor, you were flying down those hills. 
Hey! You chopped off all your hair:D
I have 170’s, so I’ve had this a few times. Although I can only do it 1/3 of the time, if I ride on the edge of the rut, I can avoid getting a pedal strike.
I think if I was cardiovascularly more fit I could better choose routes ahead of time, but since I’m practically hyperventilating in technical terrain, I’m usually fixated on stuff 5-10 yards in front of me. When I can I ride on the side of the ruts or on top of little ridges to avoid pedal strikes.
W/ rocks, learning to ride exactly where I intended helped tremendously. Ridding lots of “skinnies” (curbs, painted lines, and cracks), and frequent sharp turns (I imagine there’s a cone on the corner of each sidewalk square) w/ one or both hands on the handle or behind my back helped w/ my accuracy and recovery from near UPD’s.
Riding in Ruts
When riding in ruts or between two boulders that are close together i tend to slalom in order to avoid pedal strikes. I just zig zag into the oposite direction of the pedal that is going down. I can usually make it through chasms or ruts that are about 30cm wide. Sometimes if there is about a meter or so to go between two boulders that are very close together then I just hop it with the unicycle at a 20 degree angle. This is very energy inefecient but at least I don’t have to get off my wheel!
Unicorn
Who all is going to Moab?
I would do almost anything to go to Moab… arg.
I wish I could go to Moab.
Hooray Moab! I absolutely love the place and am planning on staying a few extra days after muni fest :~) Who else is making the trip?
Next year…
I will stay too until wednesday (trying also to visit some national parks around: I suspect I will not be allowed to ride along path in parks …)
Arches and Canyonlands both will not allow you to ride in their parks, except for on the roads, where the cars are. They don’t allow riding on any of the paths or viewpoints, but they are both definitely worth visiting. Especially canyonlands, which is a little less touristy due to it’s massive size.
Muni Skills
How do you get started up a hill? When I have a UPD on a narrow trail I have a very difficult time getting started up again. I have been using a static mount on a 24" muni, and it works fine level or downhill, but even modest uphill slopes are difficult. Are there any strategies that you use to get started again?
Today I rode back to the bottom of the hill to find a level place to mount and then started up it again. It seems counterproductive.
A walking jump mount can help you have a bit of starting momentum when mounting on an uphill. Some people will also mount sideways to the hill and side hop a couple times to get some momentum before starting to roll up the hill.
Usually if it is a small hill I’ll just walk down amd start again, but on longer uphills I’ll typically do a walking jump mount or something similiar.
When mounting on an uphill slope I’ll typically static mount perpendicular to the trail then sort of do a 90 degree side hop and just start cranking. Sounds more difficult than it really is. I will say my off road riding improved tremendously after I starting doing trials. I’m not even talking doing “big” trials, just learning the basics of si and sif side hopping up and down things, riding skinnies just sort of basic level trials skills. All of those little trials skills, for me, helped a great deal with my muni riding (my real passion).