I can tuck, it just wasn’t necessary. Since I didn’t have crankgrabs in any of my other vids, I decided to show I can do them by jumping up a table, which is not just one but two crankgrabs and more exciting than jumping up pallets. My jump is now 25 in, static sif, which requires a tuck. I’m still working but it is improving. This is the beginner’s today I thread. Any Tips?
I just landed my first 360 unispin the other day. I’ve landed two of them and I’m about to land my third today.
Yes, that was what I should have gone looking for…
Thanks for that 
learning static free mount
Trying to learn “static” free mount :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXH3mBs8qm4
I am trying not to give weight on my foot on the pedal ;hop to the other pedal and and lean forward and pedal; but knowing what to do and to be able to do are different.Even I try not to give weight to my dominant foot on the pedal (so that when I hope wheel can stay static); it seems I can’t do it and the wheel rolls back and my pedals turn in to 6-12 position… I don’t want to learn roll back mount but want to learn static mount. Tried ~70 times and 66 times I was unsuccessful to ride. Any more recommendations/tips after watching the video?
Your back foot is too high for a static mount. Start it at 8:00 rather than 11:00. Practice putting one foot on the back pedal and hopping over the unicycle (just step off the front with the other foot instead of trying to land on the pedal). This should give you a feel for the motion. Then try the mount.
Another strategy is to put a small wooden block behind the wheel to keep it from rolling back. Mount as normal. After you get used to it and can make it work most of the time stop using the block.
Good luck.
Scott
We went through this with someone else not too long ago.
I only watched for a few tries so didn’t see where you ended up at the end of your practice session.
First some terminology otherwise it gets really confusing:
Static mount: Wheel moves barely or not at all
Roll back mount: Wheel rolls back under you until you are leaning forward.
There are some, not many who have been succesfull with what I call the ‘dead zone mount’ and that is where you mount by either starting with your foot at 6:00 or you push it to the 6:00 position. Some people call THIS a static mount and that is where things get really confusing as more people post ideas and tips for learning.
What you are doing is a cross between the Static and the Roll back mount, essentially the dead zone mount. You are starting with your foot back and then stepping up on to the back pedal. As it rolls to towards the 6:00 dead zone you are ‘catching’ the rising pedal. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. The timing has to be exact. On both the static and roll-back mount the timing is still important but not as critical as on the dead zone mount
I’m gonna recommend you learn the static mount first. I learned the roll back mount first but the static mount is more versatile. The roll back mount is fun but there is a simple grace that I like in a well done Static mount.
To do the static mount you have to learn one ‘trick’ and that is to jump up and forward putting next to no pressure on the back pedal. As Scott said a curb or piece of wood can help you get the feel of the mount. The ‘feel’ of the mount is of jumping up and over, kind of riding over the top of the uni with your weight in the seat. As you come over the top you put your foot on the front pedal and as you go past the balance point you start pedaling.
On a smaller wheel like a 20" there is almost no hop. It’s almost just like stepping forward and start pedaling (well at least if your 6’ like me). While on the 29" or bigger it’s quite the hop to go over the top. The 24" is somewhere in the middle. I learned the static mount on a 29" and it took many/many/many tries to get it to >90% success. If I had to do it over again I would have done some one footed hopping to build up my muscles first.
So where should your back foot start? Whereever works best for you. You might start with your back foot at 3:00 (and that is a good position for using the curb mount).
You may find that you have more luck with your back pedal lower like 4:00. Or with it higher like 2:00. There is a vid on you tube where the rider recommends that higher position because then you are kind of jamming the pedal in line with the crank so it doesn’t move much. While I have tried that approach I did not like it.
I find that where I put my back foot depends on the size of the wheel. On my 29" 3:00 or higher is just too big a jump for me so I start with my back foot lower like 4:00. On my 20" I start with my back foot at 3:00. On my 24" I still use my original roll back mount just because that was my first mount on my first uni and it just feels ‘right’ to me after having done it so many times. But when I do static mount the 24" I use 3:00 or just a little lower.
Quite a few people have had luck with reaching down and grabbing the wheel in front of the frame while they static mount the uni. Once they have the feel of the mount it seems like it’s an easy progression to doing the mount with out the ‘steadying’ hand. My stiff old man’s back would not even let me consider that method. But it has worked for lots of people.
So mix it up and try different things and you will get there. You will find what works for you.
Yes, if you don’t have a curb get a piece of wood!
First you need to get the ‘feel’ of the hopping action, it is very strange to start with. Once you have got it sorted with a backstop then you can start trying it without, but you will have an idea of the motion/feel that you need to be achieving.
Waalrus has a note above somewhere where he said that he leaned new tricks with one foot first, presumably his dominant, and then learned them with the other foot. His thinking was that he had already learned to do the trick before he tried it with his ‘weaker’ foot. That makes sense to me too.
Cheers
Thank you for all feedback and recommendations; I will try them ;looking forward to try all your points!
Something I told my friend to do when learning to freemount was just try to hold one foot up in the air and then, without moving that foot, hop your other foot forwards. If you can do that then you can pretty much static mount. That teaches you to keep all the weight off your foot you have on the pedal.
Mowcius
Awesome video! You have a great place to practice and you look fantastic in the video! You must be stoked! I agree with scott’s advice to start with the pedal closer to the ground, but otherwise you just need to keep practicing. Between today and yesterday I got 5+ hours practice on my new 75mm cranks. It took a few minutes to get used to mounting and my unsuccessful attempts were when I started with the pedal too high.
timeline
Waaalrus ;your unicycle timeline is such a great,wonderful project 
;as unicycling is a time consuming,patienty needed; lots of systematic practice needed lifestyle/hobby; while a newbie(me!) is trying to see when he might be able to learn ;than to do some tricks, where he might be in couple of months time; (for ex. if to learn “x” trick is taking too long time for him or it’s normal for everyone) the newbie is looking that kind of information, trying to see how this process will be,etc… So,that detailed timeline is a great information. Of course ,people have different ambition,persistency,motivation;or might give more time or less; but knowing these informaiton helps.For example at forum there was a statistics of how many hours it takes a person to ride. If I didn’t know that information (lets say ~median 14 hours) ;I might quit learning as I was thinking after 3 or 4 hours that ,I can’t learn;but as I know it takes that long,than I continued to practice,and began to see that it will happen…So,thumbs up for sharing your timeline. I was taking some notes myself but after seeing what you did;I told to myself I should keep track of every detail .
I’m glad you found it useful! Especially since it was your posts which inspired me to put it together. If you don’t let yourself get discouraged you’ll be able to do anything. I’m working on one footed wheelwalking and gliding and at this stage both of those things seem completely impossible for me to do. It’s hard to imagine a world in which I’ll be able to accomplish them. But I know if I keep practicing (and enjoying the practice!) then I’ll get there eventually.
Today I rode all the way from my school to my house (~2 miles) without falling/stopping/getting tired. This was my first time ever even riding on the road, so I’m pretty pleased with myself. Now all I need is a larger unicycle!
Super Cool! You have every right to be very pleased with yourself. All that and you are an inspiration too. I am still riding from home to work only in my dreams. Enjoy shopping for your larger unicycle :~)
I don’t know where kickstand’s manners are :)
Welcome to the forum NSMarkop. Jump right into the Beginners thread, good.
What size unicycle are you riding now? I assume a 24" because I can’t imagine riding 2 miles on a 20" but I guess anything is possible.
I’ve yet to ride on the road mainly because where I live mostly has narrow roads and you can’t go more than 1/2 mile without facing significant hills. Which I can’t tackle until my knees get a lot better. Right now my riding is restricted to flat ground but I hope to change that soon.
Any particular reason for going that short?
Mainly because it makes riding that much more difficult. But I find they’re a little smoother and I can zip around the basketball court better. I’d like to be able to do faster spins and maybe a pirouette one day.
Another glorious non-achievement
Well today I managed to do all my backwards practicing without using the wall bars to start off at all.
I think I managed 4 revs backwards, once, but I’m not good at maths, especially in high pressure situations
But I am pleased to have made that break 
And I learned about a cycle parade around a part of the city in 3 weeks time, about 10km, it’ll be my first time riding in any sort of wheel crowd 
Wup! My bad. Sorry NSMarkop. Funny thing ezas, is that I thought about launching a welcome, but it felt way too presumptuous, it being my first post to this thread as well Happy peddling.
Well now i’m the one with the bad manners.
Glad to have you around kickstand. Ironic name for a Unicyclist. I like it.