On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 12:56:07 -0500, "Phuni" wrote:

Klaas Bil said, "Also, don't push
the seat to the front with your crotch while mounting, but instead get
most of the required body momentum from jumping off the ground with your
second foot...." Does this mean I should try to "jump up" onto the
saddle and not "sit into it"? I can hear my testicles applauding that
idea, but I'm not sure I've got it right.

Try to jump up? No, at least not in the way of a jump mount. What I
meant was do a static mount. So you have the seat between your legs
(against your crotch) to start with. Now if you start the mount and
you put too much pressure on the seat during the mount process, the
wheel will be pushed forward. That means that the 'first' pedal will
rise, and if it gets near the top you can't control it anymore and the
uni will shoot to the front and fall. So: less pressure on the seat,
more jumping off the ground with the second foot instead. And more
pressure on the first pedal is allowed, as the uni will not tend (so
much) to shoot from under you to the rear as a smaller wheel does.

When I learned the static mount on a 24" (and on a 20" the effect was
even more pronounced), I had difficulty preventing to put too much
force on the first pedal. My natural inclination was to step on the
first pedal as if I stepped onto something solid, but that caused the
uni to shoot from under me to the back.

With a 29'er and 125 mm cranks, the old natural inclination works
better. When mounting the 29'er after I had gotten used to mounting
20" and 24", I had to relearn the old natural inclination. Now I can
mix them all.

Phew, what a babble! Hope it helps.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
"The more you think, the less you have to do. - Leo Vandewoestijne"