It’s all normal it does not matter what foot you use or what hand you hold the handle with. What’s important is that you step over that seat not behind. Try it without attempting to mount all the way so you get the feel of it. Try jumping behind the seat and you will see the wheel moving to the side. Now try jumping ahead of the seat extend your hand so you can step over that seat and feel the difference. The unicycle will tend to go under you and propel you upwards.
Good luck and I know once you get familiar with the procedure you will be able to mount. From there you can move to a static or rolling mount if your riding requires it.
Makes perfect sense. All other things being equal I think taller people have an advantage to that step up. I’m not short (5’7") but I really think people who are in shape, who have more muscle vs body fat, and are more flexible (be it because of youth or training) have the most advantage even if they are shorter.
I’m now so sure my body shape is getting in the way. And as Hectorqulucero has pointed out, we older riders have a fear factor that gets in the way. Some of it is real and healthy. It keeps us safe. Some of it is a block we have to overcome. As long as I believe my body mass is getting in the way, the fear will be too strong.
So… today I start training. I’m determined to get in shape and do this mount before the summer is out. Then I can take advantage of some of the great advice that’s pouring out on this thread.
Viva the Cokerers older and younger who are struggling with this! Cheers to the unicyclists rooting for us!
Look at the “limit” cases: put a 4’8" midget next to a coker and look at how much harder it it is for him to jump up 18" than a 7’4" NBA basketball player who can just step on.
I think leg muscles are a big player because it is a nontrivial jump up.
And I’ve been running long enough to know that if you think anything is going to be a problem for you: it is.
Try mounting on a very small downgrade. I find that handy and also to lean very forward, get your crotch to the front of the seat as much as you can, concentrate on keeping the body straight up and not off to either side, pedals at 8 o’clockish (back pedal) and 1 o’clockish, bear down and pedal and for me get my hand off of the saddle or handle. go, go, go…
For my Coker ride today I decided it was “static mount or die”. To my great surprise I missed just one freemount! (psych plays an important role there )
Other good news: first time ever I did a significant ride holding my T 7 with both hands (while on the road … I stick to one hand when on trails)
So it"s not because we are “mature” riders that we can’t mature further!
Wow! That’s great. I’ve been talking about you for the past few days as I discuss this thread. I’m so glad to here about your success today. I’ll be able to boast about freemounting someday.
Should I adopt “Static Mount or Die” “Rolling Mount or Die”… How about just “Freemount or Die” !!!
Gina, a unicyclist from Tennessee is sitting beside me right now. She’s happy for you too… Yeah mature riders who are taming that beast! (Well yeah for younger ones too!!
I tried hectorqlucero’s mounting technique on my 29 in uni today instead of my normal (unreliable) rolling mount. It makes a lot of sense to start with a standard pedal position and have a consistent routine. It worked the first time. Thank you hectorqlucero.
Oddly I found his explanation hard to grasp at first because I view the wheel from the crank side so 8 o’clock is the starting position of the dominant pedal and 4 o’clock is where I step on to it. I don’t quite understand “stepping in front of the seat”. I am keeping the seat tucked in to my crotch. Does h’s technique mean having it hang down as far as possible? Maybe this is something peculiar to the 36 in wheel.
On static mounts on 20 and 24 in unis I find it helpful to crouch a little and push off hard on the non-dominant foot. Thus there is minimal force on the dominant pedal and the wheel doesn’t roll back. More skillful riders seem to do this without such an obvious upward lurch, but I am not there yet.:o
I’m with you on this. Still trying trying, trying, trying. I felt like I almost succeeded today by holding the wheel. I got so close that I’ll have to admit to myself that the thing that’s keeping me back the most is not my physical condition but the chicken factor.
Me a chicken? Hard to admit as I’ve always been a tough tomboy type. Prided myself on it as a kid though the label was supposed to make me self conscious enough to change my ways.
Freemount or bust! I’m going to do it this week…er… um…ok… this MONTH.
I so want to join the ranks of independent Coker riders. Tomorrow I’ll be reduced to asking bicyclists in our group to lend me their handle bars or shoulders as the route has very very sparse assisted mount possibilities otherwise. I’m reduced to that! If they drop me on the ride 'cause I’m too slow, I might be forced to … hoof it!
“Lurch? I’ll take a lurch or wobble or hiccup or whatever no matter how it looks… I just want to get up!” cries the chicken.
Hello Unibugg,
How’s it rolling? Any luck mounting the beast?
I can’t go 30 miles in a day, but I can mount a Coker. I use the rollback mount, it’s the wrong method of mounting a Coker, but it’s the mount I’m most secure with. Perhaps what helped me with being able to do this is that I learned to idle on a smaller wheel prior to getting a Coker. This helped built up my muscles for the transition from rollback to forward rolling on a the big wheel.
At the beginning of the season (Don’t get me started on the benefits Florida and So. Californian folks share with their year around warmer weather .) I have a 60-70% success rate mounting, but after a few months I’m up to nearly 100%. I think the difference is building up the strength for the transition from back to forward rolling.
I’ve done the rolling mount on a Coker and it certainly feels is like a better mount for the Beast. I think it requires less leg strength and it looks much cooler. I just never made a habit of it.
I watched a video of Unigeezer doing a jump mount onto his 36er, and immediately went out and tried it on all of my stable (don’t ask me for the link, it was a long thing based on a TV news report). I found the mount quite easy and was nailing them in no time. Now, I don’t have a 36er: the throw I get from my 29er when I UPD is scary enough for me. Anyway, I set up the camera and posted the video of my jump mounts in another thread. Here it is. I start on my little trials, and work up to the 29er. Ignore my pathetic attempts at idling.
Nice mounts. Can you do it while walking along? That’s what I need to learn for mounting the 36er up hill (plus it looks really cool at other times).
Not sure if there’s a name for what you’re doing… AFAIK a “jump mount” is like a suicide mount but without letting go of the saddle - both feet land on the pedals at the same time. What you’re doing looks like a “rolling mount” (that I want to be able to do but never get round to learning) without the roll. Looks good though, whatever it’s called.
It’s what you do when you’re learning and you’re not 100% committed to getting airborne and landing on the pedals. As she gets more comfortable it will transition to a more “simultaneous” landing on the pedals. Get over your fear and concentrate on getting a two-footed jump, rather than that “track start” you’re doing. Much 'mo impressive that way.
Try as I might, I still can’t get my 36er jump mount as simultaneous as I want. I really think it’s the height. Ah well, more box jumps for me.
For a rolling mount, the pedals would be in motion and they really aren’t in this vid. I thought a roller would be tougher, but really it’s not and it puts much less stress on my dominant foot (making it much 'mo bettah on the 36er).
Yeah, although I own the Beast for a bit over a year now I still have pretty much the same problems freemounting it as many of you.
I blame being short for having such problems: short people have to jump
a lot farther than tall ones – when a tall guy mount a coker, the angle between a ground and the uni frame is far less acute than that angle for short people. Thus the short people have jump farther.
my 0.02 cents: try idling slower, just like riding forward, stopping and riding backwards.
I can’t add much to the excellent descriptions of how to do this: lots of practice, and a big forward jump to keep the momentum going after you
sit down.
Thanks to Martin Taylor for the photography - here’s more excellent unicycle work from him: Martin Unicycle Flickr
)
hoof it!
