Nailed just about every single mount – so long as it was level or downhill. But uphill’s a different story. Normally I static mount when I MUni, but it’s just not working when the trail’s tilted uphill. I’ve tried mounting sideways in the trail to lessen the slant, which helps a little, but then I have to do an immediate twist to point the correct direction, which often throws me. I also tried a rollback, thinking that might let me stabilize into a power position if I let it rollback far enough, but then you have to reverse the downhill momentum into uphill progress which seems even more difficult. I also tried mounting sideways and then hopping into the correct uphill direction, but again, starting the uphill progress proved difficult.
Do I just need more practise at this, or does someone have some tips that might help?
Not sure what you mean – jump mount to hop. How does the hop help start uphill progress? I was able to static mount while sideways on the trail, followed by a hop twist to line up, but then starting the uphill movement was tough without tripping on some silly little thing.
You can do a jump mount without having to worry about what your wheel is going to get stuck on rolling backwards and without putting your pedals in a weird position each time you need to static mount on a slightly different slope than the one before. If you take a hop or two right away instead of trying to ride out of the jump mount, you can put the tire in exactly the spot you want it with the cranks horizontal and then ride away. I would guess that many riders mount on the trail this way, especially uphill. I always mount this way MUni-ing until I get tired (which is in about 10 minutes).
Got it, thanks! So now, let’s see – if I’m 5 years older than you, and you get tired mounting like this in 10 minutes, and we each should live approx. 30-40 more years, then prorating the increasing tiredness quotient, I’ll get tired in, uh – oh, screw it, let’s just say 9 minutes. So how do I mount for the other ~100 minutes of my MUni ride, hehheh?
J/K – I’ll give your suggestion a try. At least I should have 9 minutes of success!
I’m not up there with some of the real hard MUniists who’ve replied, but here’s some ideas that work for me.
First, I normally use a static mount with the pedals at around 8 and 2 on the clock face. But it’s not quite a static mount because I give the uni a slight shove forwards, which braces the pedal against the weight of my back foot.
Secondly, mounting sideways on to the hill works if you idle for a few strokes to get your balance and position. This is no good for really narrow or rutted trails, though.
Even mounting at about 45 degrees to the slope will reduce the effect of the hill a little.
You could ‘cheat’ with some sort of a backstop mount. Use a natural feature or even a loose pebble or stick to prevent the wheel rolling back.
Another trick that helps me is mounting the uni ‘almost sideways’. Imagine if you lifted one foot off the pedal and let the uni fall sideways in that direction until your foot hit the floor. If you then mounted from this position, it would be a sideways mount. However, to ride up the hill you will need the pedals at a ‘working angle’ rather than at 12 and 6 on the clock face. So mount at about 45 degrees to the uni. It sometimes works depending on the slope.
I have done jump mounts, but have sometimes suffered bispherical haematoma as a result, so I don’t really trust jump mounts.
The other option is to carry the uni to the top of the hill and ride it back down.
I think the key to mounting uphill, especially if it is rough, may be to mount into a stillstand before attempting to go forward. The 1 or 2 seconds will allow you to get ideal body angle, grip on the handle, etc. Then you apply power to the leading pedal and ride away. I really hadn’t thought about it much until seeing this thread, but my uphill mounting has really improved in the last coulpe of months and I think it is because I finally got to where I can climb steep inclines by cranking a half rev, momentry stop, crank, stop… The slight still stands between allow you to put everything into that next power stroke. Still stands and very small positioning hops are good for a lot of situations.
I generally use a static mount, but if you are a nuclear powered showman like Greg you can do the jump mount to hop and accomplish the same thing. I would skip the 360 he does on the jump mount, but to each his own.
I think I either do a rollback to stillstand then power off (this is much easier than doing a normal rollback mount on a hill), or static mount to 90 degree hop. Depends on a lot of things which mount though, the static mount is great for more technical stuff where you don’t have enough room to manouver whereas the rollback is good for very steep stuff.
If you’re trying rollbacks on a hill, put the pedals in the dead position (6 & 12 o’clock) and just step up and let the uni roll under you rather than actually using your weight to roll it back.
I’m way too scared to jump mount, so I don’t do that.
Absolutely agree with the thing about being able to stop and then power up hills, really helps mounting and climbing in general.
You poor sap! If I were five years older than me, I’d shoot myself. I’d probably have to get in line to do it, too. Also, I’m not nuclear powered, I’m unclear powered.
