Introduction
Muni is an abbreviation for mountain unicycling, and is a description for the practice of unicycling on any sort of rough terrain. You don't neccesarily need a mountain for Muni - it's the terrain that makes it Muni, not where the terrain is.
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Basic techniques
It is important to lower the seat and to lower the tire pressure. These two simple adjustments make a tremendous difference. Try to keep one hand on the saddle and and stand up over the saddle when you go through difficult sections as this will make it easier to exert more force through the pedals. It is important to have good enough balance to stay on top of the wheel without changing your riding direction too much. The tire will go its own way, and you will have to learn to follow it. An excellent exercise is to practice riding a rail. This will force you to stay on top of the wheel without any adjustments in the riding direction.
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Rolling out of drops
Big drops may put tremendous stress on the axle if you do them wrong. To reduce the stress, you may roll out of the drop. The point of this is to transform the downward force into a forward and downward force on the muni. To do this you will need some forward momentum as you go off into the drop, and then fold slightly at the waist, and the muni will try to shoot out in front of you instead of getting compressed under your weight. It is easiest to drop from a stillstand, but as you get more confident it is better to just roll the edge into the drop. Try to land with the cranks horizontal and absorb the shock by first flexing your legs, then at your waist and followed by your upper body and arms. If you have practiced hopping in both pedal orientations it may not matter in what orientation you are when you hit the ground, otherwise you can try pedaling the wheel half a revolution or so into the right position before you land. It is important to stand up on the pedals, and it may help to lower you saddle.
It is easiest to roll out a drop on a downhill slope. If there there isn't any slope below, you may still use an angled rock or a bump, by aiming for the far side. Try to scan the area below for a good place to roll out a landing.
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Hopping in any pedal orientation
If you ride in rough terrain with roots and rocks, the tire oftentimes gets stuck behind some obstacle. A solution is to put in a small hop, just enough to clear the obstacle, to regain balance and get going again. Things get more complicated if you are in the middle of a climb. Depending on the riding surface it may not be possible to get going again once you stop. If you are riding in mud or loose dirt, the tire may lose its grip as you put pressure on the pedals. With practice it becomes natural to put in a forward hop to regain momentum every time you start from stillstand. Mounting to stillstand and then doing a forward hop is actually the easiest way to start on a steep hill.
Since it is difficult to anticipate when the tire will become stuck behind something, it is important to practice hopping out of difficult situtaion in both pedal orientations, that is with either foot back. Also try to practice holding the seat with either hand.
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