in the 360 turns within 1m, are u allowed a three-point turn?
if not, how on earth do u do it?!?
what exactly do you mean by three point turn?
riding into the turn, backing-up half a turn and then going forward again
in order to get around a 360 turn without losing my balance
or am i expected to do a smooth 360 circle moving only forward?
I am no expert on the skill levels, I could probably only be level 4 if I wanted to be, since I have hardly ever tried wheel walking. Turning 360° in one square meter is very simple, all it requires is a sharp turn. A three point turn is probably not acceptable unless it is asked for. Spinning around 360° can be done in a few centimeters so a 1m is not asking too much. Really long cranks will not be helpful because they are more likely to strike the ground when turning sharply. If you can do sharp 180° turns on the spot and continue riding either forwards or backwards, then you should be able to continue round in a circle after practise. I’d say practising spinning on the spot would help when gaining confidence for sharp turns. Go past a lamp-post and whack it with your hand, sending yourself spinning. It is a cool feeling if you can control the spin, until you get dizzy and wipe out.
On a related topic, I did a tight circle while riding my MUni on wet grass about a week ago. It carved out a perfect pattern which looked like some sort of crop circle. I have not seen such a wicked Doughnut before. The crop circle had faded already this week (I didn’t rip it up intentionally).
Re: level question
It needs to be a full circular turn. You can’t do a three point turn, hop, or anything else. See <http://www.unicycling.org/usa/levels/> for a description of the turns.
You’ll have to counter-steer to initiate a tight turn. After the turn is initiated it’s body twisting and leaning to complete the turn. Here are two Google Groups searches for more info on counter-steering (the unicyclist.com forum search is not currently working)
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=counter-steer&meta=group%3Drec.sport.unicycling>
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=countersteer&meta=group%3Drec.sport.unicycling>
Re: Re: level question
thanx john
i’ll get practising
Save the three-pointer for your (auto) road test 
One of my early goals when learning to ride was to be able to turn around on the sidewalk. First I controlled turns so I could turn around in the street, then worked down to the width of a household driveway, but it took a little more work to get the sidewalk turn.
To learn tight turns, practice by riding in circles. Concentrate not on size, but an even pedaling motion. When you first said three point, I thought you meant a triangular shape, because that’s what non-smooth turners do. With each rotation of the wheel there’s a jerk in the direction of the turn, leading to a polygon of some shape, rather than a circle.
So smooth out the pedaling. Start with something like a 3 meter circle (or larger). When it’s right, you’ll feel it in a smoothness of pedaling. Then it’s all in the lean. Do the same circle slower, with the same amount of lean, and the circle will get smaller. Concentrate on the pedaling action all the time, and you’ll have it real soon.
BTW, for you MUni riders out there, spinning and circular riding like this is much easier on a hard, smooth tire than on a knobby one. Save the knobby for dirt (if you have a choice), and use a “regular” uni for this, or practice it on smooth dirt or grass.
Re: level question
On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 11:12:38 -0500, johnfoss
<johnfoss.oyzfp@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>So smooth out the pedaling.
I think John is describing the stylish way to do a 360 turn. Just like
arms stretched horizontally are considered good form for skill
demonstration (or so I think). But to pass the level test it would be
good enough if you demonstrate a jerky 360 degree turn within a circle
of 1 m diameter.
That said, John (Foss)'s advice about how to focus on leaning will be
heeded in my next ‘freestyle’ practice session. So thanks!
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
Bamboo can grow three feet in twenty-four hours.