Attention anyone interested in skill levels,
Constance Cotter has just announced that she found an error, which appears
to be in every version of the IUF and USA Skill Levels that has been
published since 1996. There may be some exceptions to this, but the
official rulebooks since then have contained the same levels, with the
same mistake.
The IUF (International Unicycling Federation) and USA (Unicycling Society
of America) have slightly different details in their skill level rules,
but the list of skills for both is identical. Right down to the mistakes.
Have you ever wondered why Level 7 includes “Ride backward in a circle”?
Sounds kind of easy, doesn’t it. In fact, it also appears in Level 5.
Level 7 is supposed to say “Ride backward with the seat out in front in
a circle.” This is a logical progression from doing the same thing in a
straight line in Level 6.
I must have looked at that level a hundred times since 1996, and it never
occurred to me that riding backwards in a circle was too easy (it is).
CORRECTIONS ARE COMING OUT: Thank you Connie for finding this error. I
bet a lot of jaws in Minnesota dropped as you looked and found the
same error in so many places! Connie spread the word. I prepared new
copies from the original Word docs of both rulebooks. These have been
sent to Kevin Gilbertson to publish on the IUF and USA Web sites. If
Kevin has time, these may go up as early as today, sliding under the
wire before Nationals! But as he is either about to leave for Toronto,
or possibly already gone, it may take a few weeks (until after
Unicycle Across Europe).
The corrected USA Rulebook will say “July 2001” on the cover.
The corrected IUF Rulebook still says “1998” but it will also contain
updated rules for unicycle basketball. Also I corrected the contact
information for myself, and Rolf Sander’s Unicycle Hockey Web site. The
copyright notice has been changed to 2001.
See the rulebooks: http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/
http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/
WHAT ABOUT RIDERS THAT PASSED LEVEL 7 WITH THE MISTAKE? If you have
formally passed Level 7, you are legal. This is because you used an
“official” set of levels. But the truly dedicated unicyclist will learn
the seat in front backward circle, and test the level again if they can.
If you’ve already passed Level 9, which includes a seat in front backward
figure 8, you shouldn’t worry about it though… 
Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
- Keeper of the IUF and USA Rulebook original files
- A Level 7 rider forever! (Hand wheel walk? Yuck)