Curbs are great ! They are the best, cleanest place to train.
Doing curbs is just like walking up the curb. You start with one foot on the ground (pedal down), push off that foot, forward and up. You flex the forward foot and when your weight comes forward and up to the sidewalk, you put the foot down and shift your weight to it.
Same thing with the cycle. Approach the curb, usually at a slight angle so that when you sense the right moment (distance vs pedal position) you can then twist toward the curb and commence the weight shift. Assuming you are at the correct distance from the curb - you learn this instinctively in short order - rear back slightly, then rock forward and up from the down pedal. Unweight the upper pedal and let that leg flex slightly. When you reach the sidewalk, weight the forward pedal.
YOU MUST THROW YOUR WEIGHT FORWARD to where it would be if you stepped up the curb. If you don't throw your weight forward (and up) you will simply bounce off the curb.
So, lift off the down pedal, flex the other leg, and throw the weight forward and up. This needs to be done in one almost explosive movement, although when you get the hang of it, it becomes smooth with no bump at the curb. Start low, and work up. If you have a 26 inch wheel with 170 mm cranks, a 7 inch curb or parking block is no problemo. With a lesser set up, less will have to do.
1. Ride up alongside the obstacle.
2. Jump up and down a few times, then make a big sideways jump to go over the obstacle.
1. Approach at slow speed
2. Stop against the obstacle, standing on the pedals with a gap between the unicycle's seat and your seat.
3. Grabbing the seat handles, ride/pull yourself up and over the obstacle.
My (Terry) current method is to jump before I get to the obstacle. I used to be only able to do this when my pedals were level and the right one was forward. I can do the left now as well, but still tend to miss it reasonably often. The hardest part about this is judging when you should take off, but you learn to make slight adjustments in your approach angle so that your pedals are where you want them.
One way to practice this sort of jumping is just to ride along and hop over a line on the ground (or even do it with no line). When your pedals get level, the back one stops you and you pop up. I only hold the seat at the front. Eventually you can do this with every half revolution of the wheel. A more advanced practice is to ride along a paved sidewalk and try to jump over every line (or every second line to begin with). This forces you to make decisions about when to jump (i.e. with what foot forward).
A 20" wheel goes 5 feet per revolution, so you may end up having to take off 2 feet or so from the obstacle (though in practice this wont happen as you'll learn to anticipate this and change the approach angle).
I prefer this method as you never stop and it's probably smoother and nicer looking than the ride into the gutter and then heave up method.
Method #1 was the way the developers of the skill level list intended that riders perform this trick. Many examiners just look to see if you can go from one side of the obstacle to the other, regardless of method. Check with yours.
George Peck,
Beirne Konarski,
Terry Jones