I guess on a road bike with higher bars and those de rigeur on-topic brake cables poking up even higher, the front mount is pretty much off the table for non-gymnasts. I find it much easier to mount once the bike is rolling: Left foot in pedal, a couple of kicks with the right to get up to speed and hop over. I've done it that way so long I've forgot any other way. Of course it doesn't work on steeper uphills, so I just won't stop on them except in emergencies.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA.
2009/2/9 David Ross <dlr94306@yahoo.com>:
> I guess I should have been paying attention a week ago when riding with E
ric - I didn't see his over-the-bars mount. I think it's cool, too. I have
been a right-leg-over-the-bars guy for years, sort of tossing the bike unde
r the thigh as the leg swings up. But I've had to compromise since my right
hip resurfacing (good Birmingham steel, baby - none of that modern Ti, cer
amic or plastic for me!).
>
> Until this weekend I've had to sort of lean the bike toward my left side,
gingerly slide my left leg over the top bar and then pull the bike up. Wit
h intensive physical therapy I have now graduated to swinging my right leg
(oh so carefully) up over the back of the saddle while I lean forward at a
precarious angle. I'm tempted to try a cyclocross mount, but the problem is
that once you begin that move you're fully committed, and I don't want to
take the chance of not making it, especially on a group ride. I figure with
another month or so of therapy (stretching, strength work) I'll be back to
my old, dashing style. But like Eric, mostly what it has gotten me is funn
y looks. Sort of like when people used to smoke cigarettes, and a couple gu
ys I knew did that between-their-thumb-and-index-finger think in order to l
ook all Euro.
>
> Dave Ross
> doing my stretching exercises and email at the same time in
> Portola Valley, California, USA