I had completed 9 hours learning using a rail and then a tennis court.
Could ride 200 feet quite often, but could not turn nor freemount.
Got out into the back yard today and spent half an hour trying to freemount.
Tried “roll back” mount then tried “static” mount, but got nowhere just kept kicking the uni out from under me.
Then tried the “kickback” mount, reasoning that if I step on the peddle at 6 O’clock it aint going anywhere. It took most of the half hour to get my first successful freemount.
What I did discover was that I have to hold the seat handle with the hand opposite to the foot I place on the lower peddle, or I can’t balance.
This is a short video of the last minute or so…
I have cut out around 25 minutes of constant fails before this clip.
A couple hints to perhaps make it easier – try and push less with the first pedal your first leg is on (which makes it move underneath you). Instead, do a ‘static mount’ where the pedals and wheel don’t move at all due to just the right amount of force on pedal and from your body getting over the wheel.
Basically, get your body over the unicycle, not vice versa like was taught when mounting wall-assisted.
Good luck! All fun and downhill from here.
EDIT: I see you have tried it and have trouble starting. Try and overshoot (so falling forwards) and then pedal to get back over. At least for me (and many others) the static was most successful.
You’re right. I was getting impatient.
But on reflection I was pleased to have managed two successful mounts within half an hour of trying. Now I need to manage more mounts than fails.
Had i watched the video without reading either the thread ot the title to it i would have thought “one more time and he will throw that damn unicylce into the next dumpster”
How’s it going with the freemounts now, did you stick with the “roll-back”/"kick-back"method ? I quickly changed to static mount which is easier imho because the wheel isn’t moving (or just a little bit) so you don’t have to stop it’s motion and make it move forward all while keeping balance and trying to find the right saddle position.
But now i can only do static mounts, and only with the left foot. So i would suggest to learn mounting with both feet before you get to used to one side.
Ashamed to say I have not been out since.
I have been busy then the weather has been very windy.
The forecast is good for the weekend so I hope to get some serious time in.
Regarding the free-mount method, I found the kickback the easiest because the wheel doesn’t move at all, but stays at 6 o’clock for the lower peddle.
Only when I mount the uni do I kick back then forwards. I did not find the roll-back easy because the wheel does move.
I think the kickback will be useful when I try idling, because the kickback part is half an idle as I see it.
I started with the static mount so i feel kind of safe when my pedals are in “the power position” (horizontal) and i really suck at trying to idle (well, haven’t put too much time into learning that so far). Learning the other mounting methods first may help me with that eventually.
Hope the weather will be fine, have a nice weekend.
