Today I was trying side mount (is it also called leg around mount or leg wrap mount?,don’t know the differences) and had couple of succesful ones ( + 20ish unsucessful! ). I am lefty so my right foot is on the pedal and holding the seat with my left hand,etc…
I break the side mount into 3 parts :
1-I practiced balance part with the hand holding the seat and bringing the foot on the ground( and try to find the best position for the foot on the ground)
2-once I began to have more balance or got the sense of it;I continued till sitting and then stop
3-the last part was to have a position so that I can beat “Dead lock” position;it didn’t happen so I turned to roll back half pedal and that one worked out for me : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCBZ4zedkj4
I quickly progressed onto kick up mounts once I’d got the hang of side mounts. Still have to practice those though
I always forget so they’re not too good.
I played a little game with myself, first I hopped 1 time then dismounted. Then two, then three, then four and so on until I could hop 40 times. After that I learned hop to hop over a small piece of wood (didn’t take long)
to actually hop, start off holding on to a pole. You want to keep practicing hopping while holding on the pole for a long while until you really get the feel of balancing your weight on the pedals and hopping while doing so. After this I held onto a wall while hopping. This comes easy as it is just like holding onto the pole. At this point you should be feeling the balance very well and feel like you can hop without holding on, so start off hopping like you normally do on the wall, but then take your hand away. If you do not put much pressure on he wall when you hop or push away too hard, this should be an easy transition. After you learn this, you’re hopping!
I think I’ll move on to the normal today I thread.
I tried kick up mount,I can’t put my non-dominant foot (the one kicking the seat),and my body seem to stay back of uni,maybe I dont move my weight forward enough…I can kick the seat up,my dominant foot on pedal remains but my other foot seem stay apart…And I am scared to injure my ankle,I have to wait looong time,I believe, but kickup seems so cool
Great idea to learn step by step:),I will do the same,and at home I can use hallway as wall/pole and I will practice as you describe.Rainy days are ahead so I can practice till spring and hopping seems something I can practice at home
And today I managed to hop onto a 20mm high curb twice! Even managed to ride away ofter one of them…
But I am starting to wonder if I am practicing idling correctly, I don’t seem to have improved much above being able to do about 5 or 6 max, certainly I couldn’t stop and idle to talk to someone, or wait for something in the way.
idling: krjames it seems like you have it you just have to keep doing it until you are comfortable. maybe learn to ride backwards
hopping: do one or two at a time until you can do them every revolution (rolling). then just keepgoing and try to stay centered over the uni.
kick-up: this is easy once you get the kick part down. get the seat in place as quickly as you can, then practice putting your other foot back on the pedal. at this point, you may get stranded. pedal one half revolution back, then begin riding away and fix your footing if necessary. i begin with my right foot on the bottom, the same way i mount. and i am right handed. maybe im just weird, but you should try both feet and see which is more comfortable.
Nice video and commentary Unisiklet! I think we joined this site, and started unicycling around the same time in Sept. this year. I just ordered my first real uni today and will put up a video as soon as I get it and head out for a ride. Your vid was totally inspiring dude!! Thanks, and keep it up
Today I landed my first dubble leg around?? does not know the name of the trick but it is like a leg around but instead of one i did two laps around the saddle!
idling: krjames it seems like you have it you just have to keep doing it until you are comfortable. maybe learn to ride backwards
Thanks for that Unireed,
I am actually just as unsuccessful going backwards, I had heard that going backwards utilized the same skill set as idling so it seemed sensible to work on both, but not for months and months… mind you looking at my note book I only average about 10 hours a month on the wheel, 25 to 30 running though
I was just thinking of the ‘perfect practice makes perfect’ idea. Very occasionally I get ‘in the groove’ but most of the time it’s all a bit hairy…
I feel your pain. I found learning to ride backwards to be a lot more work than learning to ride forwards. My idling and backwards riding are a little shaky, but I’m happy with the way things are going now - it seemed like nothing was happening for months, and then one day it all just started to click!
I’m sure you could learn backwards by starting from a stationary object (or running along a fence) and just pedalling backwards, much like learning to ride in the first place, but I wanted to work on idling and my transition between backwards/forwards at the same time. That’s the hard part… :o
I’m brand new here and to unicycling, got interested after seeing one of Holm’s videos…
I got my UDC 29" trainer put together yesterday, went to a local park and gave it 4 hours of my best effort…
I started out mounting with fence-assist and just moving back and forth training the reflexes. I tried to let go of the fence and do some runs in the grass without much success. But hey, this was literally my first hour on a uni.
After a short break, I moved over to a concrete area with a fence. I did some small idling with fence assist, then managed to do some 20ft runs, long enough to feel like I’d accomplished something. I also gained a lot of confidence in my ability to UPD onto my feet A lady walked by with her dogs and said ‘You’re missing a wheel’ which I laughed about, not the last time I’ll be hearing that one I’ll bet.
After another break, I moved to a grassy area and started practicing free-mounts. To my surprise I was soon able to free-mount and ride up to 40 feet in the grass. The key seems to be commitment; throwing myself in the direction I want to go, not stopping because that’s when I lose balance and fall. I started to get a feel for the sideways balancing technique, it’s all about turning in the direction which you are falling.
Another break, then I moved to the parking lot where I got some runs of 100ft or so, I was totally stoked! I can’t wait to ride miles… then hit the trails…
Thanks to all of you for posting all this great info here, and thanks to those on YouToob with all those useful videos.
Day 2 was encouraging- spent an hour in the parking lot across the street in the dark, got kicked off by security.
After warming up the sore muscles things started to click; success rate up to around 50% riding away from free mounts, many 30-40 foot rides, a couple 100 foot rides, feeling more in control.
The lot had a slight incline; it was hardest for me to go uphill, had to lean forward a lot to get started. I still have poor control over my direction and probably look funny as hell with my arms flailing madly! But the security guard wasn’t laughing so I guess it wasn’t too bad.
My biggest problem right now is getting my foot lined up properly on the pedal during the launch- trying to realign while flailing almost assures a dismount. Practice…
Thanks, I am really enjoying myself, feel I’m progressing each day. I’ll spare you the details- I’ve been inflicting my progress reports upon some other ‘old dogs’ in the ‘beginners journal’ thread…
You’ve been talking of idling and riding backwards… whoa! Impressive. My idling attempts to date have been spectacular failures that must be very entertaining for others to watch. Something about passing through that ‘dead zone’ (pedals vertical) is still giving me fits. But I will have to master that if I ever want to ride in a busy urban environment.
I’m still amazed at how such a simple thing as a UNI can be so much fun.
I get to work daily and get the uni out of my trunk, and take a short ride around my parking lot. It’s flat, no parking bumpers, and at the hour I get to work almost always very empty.
I learned to straight line forward ride at about 12-15yo, but never went any further. I recently learned to static mount (yes I was still mounting next to a pole, fence or other item to hold onto). I am currently practicing stalls on the 24" with the thoughts of starting hopping soon. I realized today that I am stalling with both right and left legs. More practice would be beneficial, but I think I'm getting close to starting to bunny hop this uni! The real question is how long will the old (~35years) 24" schwinn stand up to hopping?
). I am lefty so my right foot is on the pedal and holding the seat with my left hand,etc…
(the one kicking the seat),and my body seem to stay back of uni,maybe I dont move my weight forward enough…I can kick the seat up,my dominant foot on pedal remains but my other foot seem stay apart…And I am scared to injure my ankle,I have to wait looong time,I believe, but kickup seems so cool 
