Freemount Woes

The Roll-Back mount is best started with the 'low' pedal slightly off
6o'clock position.
It should be slightly towards you so that the wheel will roll slightly
towards you as you step on that pedal.
When you step up onto the machine, sit on the seat and aquire the
second pedal, your weight should be slightly behind the balance point.
Pulling the pedal back will then roll the wheel in behind you and leave
you leaning slightly forward and perfectly poised to ride off.

I don't think you're doing too much wrong at the moment.

I'm afraid the solution to your problem is probably just practise,
practise and more practise.

Make sure you have the seatheight right.
When seated on the seat with your *heel* on the pedal, your leg should
be straight but not locked.

Where in the UK are you?
Can you hook up with other riders?

Keep us updated.

--
GILD

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My .02 - To me, it seems the mistake most make when learning to
freemount is thinking that they are supposed to back pedal the wheel
under them entirely. This often results in a projectile unicycle in
the rearward direction or at least a very shaky start...

It's a combination move... Hold the pedal down with your foot, but you
also need to push yourself up on top of the uni with your foot on the
ground. Not a hop as that's not smooth, just sorta a quick up on your
tip toe and then to the up pedal. When you mount, the wheel in
relation to the ground shouldn't move back much. Almost like you're
using the down foot on the pedal to just hold it in place while you
push yourself up on it with your grounded foot.

One of those things that's easier to demonstrate than write.

--
Racenut
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Also try not to hit your shin. People do it all the time when they try
my uni. I learned to freemount by just getting out there and doing it.
If you start getting it you're doing it right.

--
koebwil
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And don't kid yourself. freemounting is difficult.
After 6 months of riding my 29er, I still can't consistently freemount
her.

Cathy

--
cathwood

Disclaimer: Everything I post (unless otherwise stated) is my own
opinion, based on stuff that I've learned over the years.

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I will tell you my story of freemount 🙂
I start in August 2005 with unicycling. After two or three days I could
ride a little bit and so I start to try freemounts. I wasn't able to
make the normal freemount but I could sidemount after 5 minutes !?
I prefer to start going backward after mounting but I can't ride
backward so this was not a good way. One day later I was also able to
sidemount and go forward 🙂
It needs the next 4 month to be able to make the "normal" freemount and
I'm still not good in it. I could also make a jumpmount for example,
this is more than easy but normal freemount is still difficult for me.

I also could jump with uni after some minutes and before I could ride
it 🙂
While time I meet some people that riding for many years and some of
them told me that they still got some probs at normal freemount.

So maybe first try to learn another way of mounting (I think jumpmount
is the most easy cause you have to do nothing than to force yourself to
jump on the uni. After I do it the first time I must laugh a lot cause
I think two weeks about trying it and it was *SO* easy.
From my opinion there are no fixed rule what to learn first and what
after.

At http://www.unicyclist.org you could find a lot of video clips about
several mountings and also about many tricks. Mayb you should look
there for more help or for "your" mount.

--
olarf

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the thought that the rollback mount is shakey isnt entirely tru...i
never learnt the static mount though i should and my rollback is near
flawless. its very stable.

--
trials_uni

You can't get up and try it again if you don't fall first.
-Phil
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informative post go now! edited today!
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My rollback is very stable on my 20" and MUni. However, the stepping
forward static mount seems to be much more stable on my 29".

Cathy

--
cathwood

Disclaimer: Everything I post (unless otherwise stated) is my own
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i agree roll backs on big wheels are much more wonky

--
trials_uni

You can't get up and try it again if you don't fall first.
-Phil
'Check Out my Newbie Guide' (http://tinyurl.com/99yez) <---new more
informative post go now! edited today!
Also Join the 'Unicyclist Roster'
(http://ecstasy.winternet.com/roster/index.php?) and meet other
unicyclists in your area!
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Maybe you should give the static mount a go again, it's really easy and
will help you mount on skinnies (later on) a lot easier. What you do is
you put your uni slightly in front of you, with the pedals at 3 and 9
o'clock. Put the seat against your crotch, and at the same time as
putting your foot on the pedal nearest to you (preference, I use my
left foot) slightly push against the uni, to stop it from rolling back.
You should be able to hold this position quite easily, one foot on the
pedal one foot on the ground. Now, next, you're going to push down with
the foot on the ground. What this does it not only does it give upward
momentum, but it also counteracts the fact that your back foot is
already pushing down a bit on the pedal. Next just plant your right
foot on the other pedal, and away you go!

--
Erant

Live free, prosper, and under my rule.
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olarf said:

I will tell you my story of freemount 🙂
After two or three days I could ride a little bit and so I start to try
freemounts. I wasn't able to make the normal freemount but I could
sidemount after 5 minutes !?
I prefer to start going backward after mounting but I can't ride
backward so this was not a good way. One day later I was also able to
sidemount and go forward 🙂
It needs the next 4 month to be able to make the "normal" freemount and
I'm still not good in it. I could also make a jumpmount for example,
this is more than easy but normal freemount is still difficult for me.

QUOTE]

Practically -_identical__-to my freemounting experience. I still use
the side mount 90% of the time, with a few roll back mounts from time
to time. I think if you can nail the standard mount though it will
help when you get a bigger uni (and trust me, you will...) My
freemounts on my 29er are still more than a little wobbly...

Just keep at it!

--
s7ev0

DARWIN LOVES YOU

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Thanks for all the words of encouragement. It seems that there are as
many approaches to uni as there are unicyclists and, sadly, no magic
bullet.

Practice, practice, practice!

Regards
John

--
icon
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Thanks for all the words of encouragement. It seems that there are as
many approaches to uni as there are unicyclists and, sadly, no magic
bullet.

Practice, practice, practice!

Regards
John

--
icon
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icon said:

Thanks for all the words of encouragement. It seems that there are as
many approaches to uni as there are unicyclists and, sadly, no magic
bullet.

Practice, practice, practice!

Regards
John

And practice, practice, practice.

People who use the word 'easy' in this thread obviously have a
different learning curve to me.

Cathy

--
cathwood

Disclaimer: Everything I post (unless otherwise stated) is my own
opinion, based on stuff that I've learned over the years.

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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icon said:

Thanks for all the words of encouragement. It seems that there are as
many approaches to uni as there are unicyclists and, sadly, no magic
bullet.

Practice, practice, practice!

Regards
John

And practice, practice, practice.

People who use the word 'easy' in this thread obviously have a
different learning curve to me.

Cathy

--
cathwood

Disclaimer: Everything I post (unless otherwise stated) is my own
opinion, based on stuff that I've learned over the years.

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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cathwood said:

And practice, practice, practice.

People who use the word 'easy' in this thread obviously have a
different learning curve to me.

Cathy

Actually, what I meant to say before (but forgot) was that I always
console myself (when I have been practicing freemounting for
hours/days/weeks and not getting anywhere) with the thought that it is
time well spent because even if I haven't managed to freemount very
successfully I have probably learnt something about balance and I
believe that it helps me in generally riding the unicycle.
For example I have just spent many hours over the last two weeks
practicing freemounting my 29er. Although I'm still not very good
(although better) at feemounting I have much improved my control and
confidence in controlling the wheel and can dismount very gracefully.

You'll get there.

Cathy

--
cathwood

Disclaimer: Everything I post (unless otherwise stated) is my own
opinion, based on stuff that I've learned over the years.

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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cathwood said:

And practice, practice, practice.

People who use the word 'easy' in this thread obviously have a
different learning curve to me.

Cathy

Actually, what I meant to say before (but forgot) was that I always
console myself (when I have been practicing freemounting for
hours/days/weeks and not getting anywhere) with the thought that it is
time well spent because even if I haven't managed to freemount very
successfully I have probably learnt something about balance and I
believe that it helps me in generally riding the unicycle.
For example I have just spent many hours over the last two weeks
practicing freemounting my 29er. Although I'm still not very good
(although better) at feemounting I have much improved my control and
confidence in controlling the wheel and can dismount very gracefully.

You'll get there.

Cathy

--
cathwood

Disclaimer: Everything I post (unless otherwise stated) is my own
opinion, based on stuff that I've learned over the years.

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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I like to think that you have to fail at a skill a certain amount of
time before you're 'allowed' to get it right.
A karmic kinda thing.
The sooner you notch up your 1000 (to pick a random number) 'failures',
the sooner the freemount faeries will allow you to freemount.
It's up to you to decide how long you want to take to get thru the
required amount of 'failures'.

--
GILD

'three short gs and a long e-flat™'
(http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven_sym5_1.wav) - 'world jump
day' (http://www.worldjumpday.org/)
'if i'm murdered, don't execute my killer.'
(http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1539/)
'harper' (http://tinyurl.com/c9epx)
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I like to think that you have to fail at a skill a certain amount of
time before you're 'allowed' to get it right.
A karmic kinda thing.
The sooner you notch up your 1000 (to pick a random number) 'failures',
the sooner the freemount faeries will allow you to freemount.
It's up to you to decide how long you want to take to get thru the
required amount of 'failures'.

--
GILD

'three short gs and a long e-flat™'
(http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven_sym5_1.wav) - 'world jump
day' (http://www.worldjumpday.org/)
'if i'm murdered, don't execute my killer.'
(http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1539/)
'harper' (http://tinyurl.com/c9epx)
'NAMASTE!' (http://tinyurl.com/4qcxw)
'Dave' (http://www.lyricsdir.com/d/deep-purple/child-in-time.php)
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I toggled back and forth between failing at the static and then failing
at the rollback mount. (I like variety.) In the beginning I was less
crappy at the rollback, but at this point I have almost mastered being
less crappy at the static freemount. Here's what helped me:

First off, I lowered my standards. I am not 14. I can't practice 3
hours at a clip.... I have to work, grocery shop, feed the dogs, etc. I
stopped being envious of Dudewithasock (well, mostly) and decided to be
happy with my own pace.

Somewhere in here someone gave a description of stepping up on the uni
when freemounting that made sense to me: Step on the back pedal with
the same sort of fake-step you'd use when stepping on your friend's
stomach. I also experimented with the pedal height. I found that having
the back pedal somewhere between 9 and 10 o'clock helps me not to put
any weight on it. (Intellectually, I thought lower would be easier, but
once again my mind was completely out of synch with reality!) Also, I
slid my foot forward so that I had the arch on the pedal instead of the
ball of the foot. Mixed results, but the idea is to keep fine-tuning.

I can't really give any advice on the rollback mount. I had a sneaking
suspicion as I practiced that one that I would learn how to unicycle
backwards before I ever learned the mount itself!

Good luck, and keep us updated on your progress!

--
Terry17

"We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming."
-Werner von Braun
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