Mounting & dismounting are an fundamental skills. Stopping & navigating hazards safely has a dependency on being able to quickly & instinctively mount and dismount from a Penny-Farthing.
Until you’ve mastered this skill and can do it reflexively, you shouldn’t cycle on public roads.
When practicing, do so in a flat & level area with either little or no vehicle traffic which is sufficiently large enough so you can hop along as you mount the Penny-Farthing, cycle it and return to the starting point to dismount to commence the exercise again.
Although a park might seem the best place to practice required Penny-Farthing skills, unleashed dogs are always a risk and as a beginner you probably don’t want to add to this to the mix of things you have to worry about. Also, don’t choose a location near a blind juncture where you have no forewarning of approaching vehicles.
Technique:
Mounting: Place your foot on the mount peg and while keeping the handlebars STRAIGHT, scoot the penny-farthing with the foot on the ground to get it rolling with sufficient momentum. It must still be rolling as you swing your leg over the saddle and place your feet on the pedals. If the Penny-Farthing stops rolling before you mount the saddle it will fall over. Abort and try again ensuring you gain sufficient momentum to complete the manoeuvre. If you try mounting on even a slight incline, you’ll lose momentum more quickly, giving you a fraction of the time you need to be on the saddle before it stops.
Dismounting: To dismount you reverse what you did to mount. Before dismounting you reduce speed. Then you locate the foot peg, stand on it and step down with the free leg. However, this is a bit tricky at first as you have to find the mount peg with your foot. This only becomes easy when you gain muscle memory from having done it several times. So it’s advisable to practice mounting and dismounting in a continuous loop to reinforce the skill. You’ll then be able to reflexively find the foot peg which will enable you to react to hazards when cycling on roads more effectively.
The below videos illustrate- using a modern UDC brand Penny-Farthing with 2 sets of pegs unlike a traditional one which has a single mount peg. Given the (2) sets of mount pegs, I’ve went to great pains to illustrate how the feet & legs need to move. The first video is a very quick HowTo and the second- longer- video goes into all the granular detail about clothing, suitable location and technique of mounting & dismounting with front and rear views of the procedure.