Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

General
1

> I wonder if you could put to rest some confusion which has been troubling us.
> For a 13 year old competing in the age category for Artistic Individual
> competition at Unicon X (i.e. not Junior Expert), is the time limit 2 or 3
> minutes or optional???

According to the IUF Rulebook:
http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/iufrules/3artistc.html

Standard Skill is 3 minutes for all ages. Individual and Pairs Freestyle
non-expert is 2 minutes for 0-14, and 3 minutes for 15-up. Junior Expert (0-14)
gets 3 minutes, and Expert (any age) gets 4 minutes.

The amount of attention you pay to reading the rulebook should be in direct
proportion to the amount of time and effort you are applying to your competition
training. The more you know about the rules, the less surprises you will get at
competition time…

I’ve taken the liberty of sharing this answer with the unicycling newsgroup;
hope you don’t mind. Sometimes there is confusion between our various artistic
events, partly due to misuse of event names. Here’s some quick definitions for
anyone involved in IUF (or USA) competition:

ARTISTIC - This is a generic term for all events in the “trick riding”
arena. Standard Skill, Freestyle, Pairs, Groups, Individual, they are all
artistic events.

STANDARD SKILL - This is the correct name for the competition event that is
often referred to as “standard” or “standard artistic”. You choose your
skills (or figures) from a list and perform them in exact order, as perfectly
as possible.

FREESTYLE - This is a generic term for the “other” artistic events, not Standard
Skill (also not Compulsory, which we no longer use). Freestyle is half
performance, half skill display. Judging is 50% on difficulty and 50% on
presentation. Riders are allowed to use props, themes, costumes, and as much
creativity as possible.

INDIVIDUAL FREESTYLE - Freestyle for one rider. This is the correct full name.

PAIRS FREESTYLE - Freestyle for two riders. This is the correct full name.

GROUP FREESTYLE - Freestyle for three or more riders. This is the correct
full name.

CLUB SHOW - This event, used by the Unicycling Society of America, is a
variation on Group Freestyle designed for unicycle clubs to compete with each
other. Minimum five riders, and the club must be registered with USA Inc. IUF
does not have an equivalent.

RACING - All speed events, both on and off the track, plus the Slow races. We
also have more and more “Field” events, such as High Jump, Long Jump, Trials,
and others.

EVENT - This is a generic term for specific competitions. The 11-12 age group
100 meter race is an event. It might have multiple heats, but it’s all one
event. The whole 100m race can also be referred to as an event.

TRICK - An informal term for “skills” or “figures”, such as riding with one
foot. Some people don’t like this word as it’s associated with magic, or other
forms of fooling people.

SKILL - A more polite name for “trick”, but can be confused with the adjective
form of the word. For example, “He did that skill with great skill!” Trick
doesn’t get mixed up with other meanings.

FIGURE - Another name for a trick or skill, used in the Standard Skill event.
Each numbered “skill” on the list is called a figure. If it’s not on the list,
it ain’t a figure and you can’t get any points for it.

Here are some misused terms: STANDARD ARTISTIC - An inaccurate name for Standard
Skill. Standard Skill and all Freestyle events are “artistic”. STANDARD CLASS -
This was an old competition event used by USA, before Standard Skill. One rider,
one standard unicycle, no music or costume, just tricks being judged. The
difference is, this was subjective judging, where Standard Skill is objective.
Riders’ scores, in theory, can be compared with other riders at other
championships in other countries or years. INDIVIDUAL - Individual what? PAIRS
ARTISTIC - Should be Pairs Freestyle. CLUB FREESTYLE - No such animal. We call
it Club Show to keep it a clear difference from Group Freestyle.

Hope that was more than you wanted to know…

John Foss Chairman, IUF Rules Committee www.unicycling.com

2

RE: Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

Hi!

Foss wrote…
>Hope that was more than you wanted to know…

that was a really nice overview! I think I may be getting the hang of this…

Anyway, I’m working on my … Standard Skill (not Standard Artistic, right? :wink:
routine right now and I have run into more questions. Hypothetically, I probably
could find them in the rule book, but with people like John Foss out there who
are so willing to do all the busy work, I find it hard to get motivated to
scroll thru the rather intimidating rulebook. :slight_smile: So if you’re still willing to
answer questions, I appreciate it!

  1. if you don’t use the “154a wheel walk to pedals” skill, how else do you
    end a ww skill? just … get off? is that legal? do you lose points? And
    can you use “ww to pedals” after ONE-FOOT wheel walking, or only regular
    wheel walking?

  2. how many hops do you have to do to get credit, and how many idles?

  3. Can you hold onto the seat with one hand for hop-twists? and for
    seat-in-front idle against your body?

  4. say you want to do seat-in-front and then wheel walk. Must you include the
    “SIF to riding” transition?

oh yes and while we’re at it… about racing, the crank limit for a 24" is five
inches? and for a 20" uni, 114 mm? I saw this info somewhere and now I don’t
know where it went.

Also - I’m assuming for the ww race, crank length doesn’t matter??

how many unicycles does the average person TAKE to an NUC? I was originally
thinking just one, my 20". But now if I want to race, I have to get a 24" with
the right cranks, or at least a 20" with the right cranks, and it all gets very
complicated! Especially since I kind of trashed my 24…

Thank you!! Tammy :slight_smile:

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

3

RE: Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

To answer some of Tammy’s questions:

  1. end of ww You can end any way you want. You don’t have to “use” the skill in
    your list. If you dismount, make sure it is obviously intentional. You can
    use the ww to riding skill after one footed ww.

  2. 5 hops, 5 idles (back and forth)

  3. hop-twisting is free hand, also note that this is only 3 times back and
    forth. With the idle SIF your hand may be on the seat.

  4. Even thou you may “transition” the skill does not have to be in your list.

Yes the minimum crank size on a 24" wheel is 5 inches and for 20" wheel it is
5.5 inches. This is for the standard “fast” races only. The cranks may be longer
than the minimum for any race. This is in the rule book.

I just bring 2 - a 20" for standard and the slow boards, and 24" for racing.

Some people bring more and seem to have a uni for every thing. If you race on a
20" you will be at a huge disadvantage.

Hope to see you at the convention. Dirk Iwema

-----Original Message----- From: Tammy Marsh [mailto:dagobahyoda@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2000 3:38 PM To: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: RE:
Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

Hi!

Foss wrote…
>Hope that was more than you wanted to know…

that was a really nice overview! I think I may be getting the hang of this…

Anyway, I’m working on my … Standard Skill (not Standard Artistic, right? :wink:
routine right now and I have run into more questions. Hypothetically, I probably
could find them in the rule book, but with people like John Foss out there who
are so willing to do all the busy work, I find it hard to get motivated to
scroll thru the rather intimidating rulebook. :slight_smile: So if you’re still willing to
answer questions, I appreciate it!

  1. if you don’t use the “154a wheel walk to pedals” skill, how else do you
    end a ww skill? just … get off? is that legal? do you lose points? And
    can you use “ww to pedals” after ONE-FOOT wheel walking, or only regular
    wheel walking?

  2. how many hops do you have to do to get credit, and how many idles?

  3. Can you hold onto the seat with one hand for hop-twists? and for
    seat-in-front idle against your body?

  4. say you want to do seat-in-front and then wheel walk. Must you include the
    “SIF to riding” transition?

oh yes and while we’re at it… about racing, the crank limit for a 24" is five
inches? and for a 20" uni, 114 mm? I saw this info somewhere and now I don’t
know where it went.

Also - I’m assuming for the ww race, crank length doesn’t matter??

how many unicycles does the average person TAKE to an NUC? I was originally
thinking just one, my 20". But now if I want to race, I have to get a 24" with
the right cranks, or at least a 20" with the right cranks, and it all gets very
complicated! Especially since I kind of trashed my 24…

Thank you!! Tammy :slight_smile:

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

4

RE: Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

> 1. if you don’t use the “154a wheel walk to pedals” skill, how else do you end
> a ww skill? just … get off? is that legal? do you lose points? And can
> you use “ww to pedals” after ONE-FOOT wheel walking, or only regular wheel
> walking?

There’s a really good question. You saved a lot of time trying to find a direct
answer in the book because it’s not there.

Think of your Standard Skill routine (or “program”, left off my definitions
list) as a series of skills for points. What you do between the skills is
(mostly) irrelevant. You can use transition skills, and they’re great because
they effectively use zero time if the before and after skills are both figures
on your list.

Or, you can do the same transition but not include it on your list. Then it’s
not judged, so if you do it sloppy it doesn’t hurt you.

Dismounting is allowed during your program. But the point many people miss is
that it should be real clear to the judges that you did it on purpose. Take
an extra second to stop, then dismount. If the judges aren’t sure, they might
not give you the befit of the doubt and score it as an unintentional dismount
(2 points).

You can use “ww to pedals” after one foot ww, as long as your transition follows
the beginning and ending requirements for that figure. That should be pretty
easy in this case.

> 2. how many hops do you have to do to get credit, and how many idles?

Those answers, on the other hand, are real easy lookups. You really should look
them up, because your final Standard Skill score is going to be directly
proportional to your understanding of the rules. Unlike somebody in a club where
several people are competing Standard Skill, you’ll have to study more. Standard
Skill rules are in two different sections of the rulebook so you have to look in
both: http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/iufrules/4stdskl.html
http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/iufrules/7sslist.html

All right, five and five. One idle equals once back and forth. Note these are
the minimums you should do, and it doesn’t hurt to do a little extra to make
sure the judges didn’t count wrong.

> 3. Can you hold onto the seat with one hand for hop-twists? and for
> seat-in-front idle against your body?

Hoptwist, skill #112, has this definition: “Staying in place bouncing the
unicycle left then right around a vertical axis. A minimum of 3 consecutive
cycles (left and right bounces) must be executed. Neither hand may touch
the seat.”

For seat-out skills that are against the body, it is assumed that one or more
hands is holding the seat.

> 4. say you want to do seat-in-front and then wheel walk. Must you include the
> “SIF to riding” transition?

Think of transition figures as optional. Sometimes they’re not worth enough
points for you to use, but that depends on your level of ability. Like I
mentioned above, they can be great time savers.

When assembling your program, don’t forget the time element. Anything that isn’t
finished at the time limit doesn’t count. How much you can do depends on what
you can fit into those three minutes.

Here’s another point to remember. The whole distance or duration of the figure
is judged. Say you’re walking the wheel in a line. When you cross into the big
circle, you must already be walking the wheel, with your arms in position, good
posture, etc. And you must hold this position until you cross the line at the
other side of the circle. Start late or finish early, and the Execution Judge
(maybe me) might give you 50%.

> oh yes and while we’re at it… about racing, the crank limit for a 24" is
> five inches? and for a 20" uni, 114 mm? I saw this info somewhere and now I
> don’t know where it went.

It’s still there. Note those limits are minimum, not maximum.

> Also - I’m assuming for the ww race, crank length doesn’t matter??

If the Referee is anal, he/she can disallow your unicycle. I would take off the
cranks just to bug them. Having cranks is not a requirement…

> how many unicycles does the average person TAKE to an NUC?

I don’t know any “average” people who go to NUCs. :slight_smile: I used to bring just one,
my 24", and think nothing about it (not really, because my trusty Schwinn
Giraffe was always there). Then in 1984 I switched to 20" for freestyle, so I
was committed to a minimum of two. These days I have three main cycles for
competition: 20" freestyle 24" track (short cranks, lightweight, fragile) 24"
multi-use (140mm cranks, 1.75 tire, can do MUni)

But I’ll probably bring my 26" MUni to China also…

The big question to help you decide is this: Flying or driving? Last summer I
drove, so I brought a whole bunch (plus carted a few for friends who were
flying…).

> with the right cranks, or at least a 20" with the right cranks, and it all
> gets very complicated!

It’s highly unlikely you would have to change cranks to be legal for racing,
unless your unicycle has real short ones that you added yourself.

Stay on top (and read up), John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

“Matter matters” - Mike Anderson (of Anderson Solone Inc.)

5

RE: Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

>Dismounting is allowed during your program. But the point many people miss is
>that it should be real clear to the judges that you did it on purpose. Take
>an extra second to stop, then dismount. If the judges aren’t sure, they might
>not give you the befit of the doubt and score it as an unintentional dismount
>(2 points).

okay, so for wheel walking, is it obvious enough to just jump off the
front? this is quite interesting, as you would never get away with that for
skill levels!

>Standard Skill rules are in two different sections of the rulebook so you have
>to look in both: http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/iufrules/4stdskl.html
>http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/iufrules/7sslist.html

okay, I’ll study them, I promise. :slight_smile:

>It’s still there. Note those limits are minimum, not maximum.

oh yeah, that’s what I meant. Why did I say limit? hm. :wink:

>If the Referee is anal, he/she can disallow your unicycle. I would take off the
>cranks just to bug them. Having cranks is not a requirement…

that made me laugh!

>main cycles for competition: 20" freestyle 24" track (short cranks,
>lightweight, fragile) 24" multi-use (140mm cranks, 1.75 tire, can do MUni)

wow, cool. The thing is … i find a 24" uni almost pointless except for the
fact that you need it for racing. if I’m doing distance, i’d used my 28", if I’m
doing tricks, I’d use my 20", so I don’t have a good 24" uni at the moment. I
have a dying 24" cyclepro though! And I have my doubts if it’s worth my money to
buy a 24" just for racing.

>It’s highly unlikely you would have to change cranks to be legal for racing,
>unless your unicycle has real short ones that you added yourself.

actually my 20" deluxe miyata CAME with 102 mm cranks (4 inch). I love
short cranks!!

thanks, Tammy

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

6

RE: Time Limit for Junior Artistic comp

> okay, so for wheel walking, is it obvious enough to just jump off the front?

I would stop, and step down to the rear same as for regular riding. But more
important is how you do it, not so much which way. Make it deliberate and there
will be no problem.

> This is quite interesting, as you would never get away with that for
> skill levels!

As I always point out. Standard Skill and the skill levels are basically
unrelated, and should not be thought of together.

> oh yeah, that’s what I meant. Why did I say limit? hm.

Minimum is also a limit, so don’t worry…

> wow, cool. The thing is … i find a 24" uni almost pointless except for the
> fact that you need it for racing. if I’m doing distance, i’d used my 28",

You kids today – you don’t realize what you’ve got! Back in the “old days” (way
back in 1980), unicycles came in two sizes, 20" and 24". You could find 16" or
maybe 26" but you had to look real hard! Racing developed on 24" because that
was the “big” size. Someday that’s going to have to change…

> And I have my doubts if it’s worth my money to buy a 24" just for racing.

I wouldn’t. But I still like the general usefulness of my Miyata 24". Like I’ve
said before, if I could only bring one on a trip, it would be that one. I can
ride around town, fit it into luggage easily enough, carry it easily enough, and
take it on the trails too. Plus I can do most of my freestyle stuff on it,
though I prefer a 20" for that.

> actually my 20" deluxe Miyata CAME with 102 mm cranks (4 inch). I love short
> cranks!!

Uh oh, I hope Jack Halpern is listening. Are all those 20" riders from Japan
going to have the right sized cranks for racing? 102 mm will not be legal until
someone starts petitioning for it (start now for U XI)…

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

“Matter matters” - Mike Anderson (of Anderson Solone Inc.)