How long to learn free mounting?

for me it took about an hour of hardcore practice just trying to solely
freemount... after that i just kept getting more consistant.

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Well it took me about a week, cause i was trying to learn other tricks
b4 attempting the freemount. 😄

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ivan said:

Its a wild ride, grabs me by the shoe-lace, and doesn't let go till I do
a face-plant.

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I learnt freemounting in a day, just trying to do it every time I fell
off.

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chrome said:

I know that everyone learns differently; so is it a gradual process or
does it just click one day?

I think this depends on how you practice. If you think about it, when
you were learning to ride, riding was all you did. If, when learning to
freemount, you ride away and keep riding after a success then the
amount of time you spend learning to freemount is reduced quite a bit.
If, on the other hand, you dismount immediately after each success then
you spend more time actually learning to freemount. Your half hour
devoted practice sessions seem like a good way to learn because you're
focussed on one task.

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Currently, I'm trying to start from the 6:00 Right foot, 12:00 Left foot
position.

This seems like the most secure position for me, although this puts me
in the "dead spot", where its all about getting my left foot placed and
pedaling before I abort the mount and hop off. I've even experienced
fractions of a second where I thought I was doing a Still Stand.
Sometimes I can pedal out of it.

I've experimented with moving the right pedal to the 7:00 trying to
get a little bit of the roll back mount posture, which feels less
secure and centered.

Thanks for the input, guess I'll just keep at it until I learn....

Cr🙄

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thats how i learned to mount.
i found that once you can sortof get it consistent, learn how to hop.
because then the mounting is way easier, if it doesn't work, you can
just give a few stabilizing hops, and then ride away.
much less frustrating (though its probably bad form, i can free mount
successfully every time now but hopping after a mount seem much easier
than realigning and trying again)

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For me the hard part was the starting once I hurled myself up onto my
uni. So I started with my foot in the 4 o'clock position, threw myslef
up onto my uni and tried to visualize a successfull launch. After
about a week or two of that I could mostly jump on and ride away.

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After about a year of cokering/big wheeling I can still only freemount
with 50% success. The temptation to keep on riding once I'm on is too
great. But I'm improving slowly.

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I have a friend who learned to free mount even before he could ride.

As well as the person who got me into Unicycling, he could hop before
he could ride, he would hop and then do one revolution, and hop again,
then two revolutions etc...

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The way I did it, every time I went riding, if I fell off I would try
freemounting before going to a wall for help. I didn't really consider
it practicing, I just considered it trying to get back on by myself
before giving up...even though it really was practicing, just didn't
seem like it. And I got better at it and now I can do it every time.

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chrome said:

Currently, I'm trying to start from the 6:00 Right foot, 12:00 Left foot
position.

This seems like the most secure position for me, although this puts me
in the "dead spot",

Go 6:00 and 12:00 positions and the kick up and launch yourself on.
then you will be at 3:00 and 9:00. After that you just pedal away.

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chrome said:

I'm wondering how long it takes to learn to free mount consistently?

I usually try to get in at least a half hour practice session, a few
times a week. My 26" seems a little more difficult than my learner
20". I've made up to 11 good mounts in a session. Other times I just
work on riding and turning once I'm up.

I know that everyone learns differently; so is it a gradual process or
does it just click one day?

Cr.😕

It took me a few months or more. Like your self I tried 6 and12; which
did not work out well. So, I went to 3 and 9.

The thing that helped me most was to use an even jump from my toes
while leaning forward, and looking at the pedal I was trying to land
on.

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I learned in a few days, but the mounts were inconsistent. So I would go
out and do left-foot-back until I had 10 successes, then
right-foot-back for 10 successes, then alternate feet for 10 successes.
This process would require 60 to 90 attempts. I did this every day for
a week. It is that practice, practice, practice approach that got my
mounts consistent.

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*First:* Don't start with your pedals at 6. Bring it back a little
bit.
*Second:* Mount with a little forward motion. This gets your momentum
moving forward and allows the pedal to begin moving (a little)
*Third:* Stop the pedal from moving. The force required is very
little. Similar to if you rested one foot on your friends chest while
they are on the ground. and moving the other foot from one side to the
other. (I know this sounds dorky and only a true friend would let you
do it.) But, the idea is to apply as little pressure as possible and
maintain your balance. Your forward momentum along with your step up (
the chest thing) will lift you up and off you go.

Another idea is using a curb, 4 by 4, or the like to block the tire
from moving backwards and give you a little stability.

I predict if you can ride (even a little) you will learn to mount
quickly

Good Luck

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chrome said:

Currently, I'm trying to start from the 6:00 Right foot, 12:00 Left foot
position.

This seems like the most secure position for me, although this puts me
in the "dead spot", where its all about getting my left foot placed and
pedaling before I abort the mount and hop off. I've even experienced
fractions of a second where I thought I was doing a Still Stand.
Sometimes I can pedal out of it.

I've experimented with moving the right pedal to the 7:00 trying to
get a little bit of the roll back mount posture, which feels less
secure and centered.

Thanks for the input, guess I'll just keep at it until I learn....

Cr🙄

I've never liked the 6/12 foot positions because of the dead-spot you
mentioned. It definitely makes it much more difficult to freemount.

I first tried the rollback mount, but realised that it is more
difficult than the normal mount (normal meaning just step up and go).
It took me a while to get the mount going easily, and now can do it
without any problems. I've been unicycling for 4 months.

The way I started to get it was have my pedals in the 8/2 position (for
me left foot at 8). Put my left foot on, step up, lean forward, put a
little bit of weight on my foot, grab the wheel for a second, get my
right foot on the other pedal, sit up and start pedaling. It feels a
little awkward and for anyone watching it looks like you're going to
head-but the ground, but it works.... trust me. I could do this before
I could ride 20 meters. The wheel grab was essential to stop the wheel
moving due to me putting weight on the back pedal.

After a lot more riding, and getting used to controlling the amount of
weight put on the pedals when mounting, I can now free mount without
any problems and not doing the wheel grab either. My normal pedal
position for mounting now is 9/3.

The advice I can offer is just... go for it. Think about the movement
you want to get, then think about it when you go for it. Relax... you
have more time that you think you do, so don't try to rush it.

Good luck.

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garyWpope said:

*First:* Don't start with your pedals at 6. Bring it back a little
bit.
*Second:* Mount with a little forward motion. This gets your momentum
moving forward and allows the pedal to begin moving (a little)
*Third:* Stop the pedal from moving. The force required is very
little. Similar to if you rested one foot on your friends chest while
they are on the ground. and moving the other foot from one side to the
other. (I know this sounds dorky and only a true friend would let you
do it.) But, the idea is to apply as little pressure as possible and
maintain your balance. Your forward momentum along with your step up (
the chest thing) will lift you up and off you go.

Another idea is using a curb, 4 by 4, or the like to block the tire
from moving backwards and give you a little stability.

I predict if you can ride (even a little) you will learn to mount
quickly

Good Luck

I agree with all those ideas, at first when I started to freemount I
had at 6/12 but it's harder to get going after you get up that way. And
you can't really effectivly mount anything bigger than a 20" in this
way. Try the pedals at 5/11, you don't need a lot of roll back even a
little will help, I know it'll feel weird at first, but keep trying,
it'll get more natural once you get the hong of it. 🙂

As for me it took a couple of days for me to learn free mounting. It's
harder than it looks, just stick with it and you'll get it in time.

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When i was learning to freemount, i used the *fall off, get back on*
technique. Meaning that if i UPD or dismounted naturally. I would just
say to myself "Try it again" and with repeated tries. I found i could
freemount 8/10 a majority of times. 😄

😄 So i guess the *fall off, get back on* technique really did work in
the end. 😄

*Also* i would try different techniques/strategies to see which one got
me to freemount the fastest and easiest.

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ivan said:

Its a wild ride, grabs me by the shoe-lace, and doesn't let go till I do
a face-plant.

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It is hard for most people to grasp but it is eaisier to ride than to
freemount.
I was riding pretty good before I could freemount consistently. I
learned riding by mounting while holding onto the basket ball hoop post
and just trying to ride away. I was allready riding around the
neighborhood without bieng able to freemount. After about two months I
had about a 90% success rate freemounting. Even on dirt roads. Keep in
mind that even today when I am doing hardcore MUni after a few hours of
riding I probably only have about an 80% success rate of freemounting.
It is really hard when you are exausted and the terrain is rough! You
should practice just freemounting sometimes and always make an effort
to freemount after UPDs. Also learning to hop really helps with the
freemounts. It teaches you to stay ballance while beign stationary. If
you can transition from hop to ride to hop you should be able to mount
and if it is not a great mount do a hop or two to get your ballance and
then ride off into the sunset!

Unicorn

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The rollback mount worked for me - start at 5 and 11 o'clock, snap the
jump foot up and catch the top pedal as it moves towards you, then as
soon as the jump foot has firm contact, pedal forwards.

And I'd practise whenever whatever else I was practising wasn't going
well (in those days it was riding a short distance in a straight line,
or making a basic turn).

Now I mount from 3 and 9 o'clock, and it's way better, eg, on rough
surface, and faster. But I never know whether beginners should learn
it first, or start with 6 and 12 o'clock (ish), as I did. Maybe
youngsters can go straight to mounting with pedals horizontal, but us
oldies need to go through the easy-but-not-so-useful version first.