Numbering And Describing Sections

Course setters should ensure that they have the following material for flagging and describing sections: flagging tape, duct tape, spray-paint, a staple gun, paper or cardboard, a felt marker, and large size Ziploc bags. Laminated cards with large letters A, B, C, etc. or 1, 2, 3, etc. are also very useful for labeling obstacles for description purposes.

Each section must be clearly numbered and have clearly marked start and finish locations. Be especially careful to clearly define the finish so it is clear when a rider has cleaned a section.

Assigning difficulty ratings to sections is not required. However, it is recommended that difficulty ratings be assigned to sections and listed on the rider scorecards, because it allows riders to quickly determine which obstacles they wish to attempt. If the restriction system described in section Section Restrictions For Competition Categories is used, difficulty ratings on obstacle and scorecards are a must. For international competitions it is recommended to add section instructions to each line. Those should include the following information:

1. Start: Description of the start location

2. Section: Description of the section and section boundaries

3. Finish: Description of the finish location

4. Sketch of the section (optional)

Using sketches is strongly recommended cause all riders do not speak the same language. In some cases it can replace written instructions.

Example Instructions and Sketch:

To make it easier to describe sections, label major obstacles with numbers and/or letters. These should be clearly visible at a distance. Plastic laminated cards with letters or numbers are good because they can be re-used at other competitions.

One good strategy is to label all boxes with numbers, and all beams with letters. This makes it much easier to include section descriptions such as “ride from Beam A to Box 6, without touching the ground.” Section instructions should not require or prohibit a rider from using certain techniques to complete a section. For example, the instructions must not prohibit the use of pedal grabs or bash guards in order to increase the challenge.

Section Difficulty

The range in difficulty of sections should correspond to the range in ability levels of the participants. The easiest sections should be cleanable by all participants after one or two attempts, and the harder sections should require multiple attempts by the best riders.

It is highly recommended to include one or two sections that are so difficult that they may only be cleaned by one rider, or not at all. This will help prevent ties for first place, and may also help to increase the technical standards of the sport if a rider succeeds in doing something that has never been done before.

Assigning Difficulty Ratings to Sections

Assigning difficulty ratings to sections is optional, except if required to set section restrictions for competition categories (see section Section Restrictions For Competition Categories). However it is recommended as it helps riders plan which sections they want to attempt. The most important responsibility when assigning difficulty ratings is to be consistent. For this reason it is best to assign difficulty ratings after all sections have been built. Course setters should also try not to let their own strengths and limitations at different techniques bias their judgment of score values. This is especially important for rating sections that have similar difficulty levels but that require different skills (for example: hopping, riding narrow beams, pedal grabs, etc.). The sections can be sorted into “green” (easier), “blue” (mid-range), and “black” (harder). Each line should be marked clearly with one of these colors so that it can be seen at a distance. If possible, the same color scheme should be shown on the rider’s scoring card to make it easier for the riders to find sections of particular difficulty levels.

Two alternative methods can be used to assign ratings:

Relative Method: For the purpose of grouping obstacles by difficulty, the difficulty ratings can be assigned relative to other sections in the course. A typical course would have 25% Easy (green) lines, 50% Medium (blue) lines and 25% Hard (black) lines.

Absolute Method: Experienced course setters may assign Easy, Medium, and Hard lines based on absolute ratings of difficulty levels. The U-System, the open-ended difficulty rating system for unicycle trials, should be used to apply ratings. Note that the the U-system is NOT the same as the International Unicycling Federation (IUF) Skill Levels. Because the U-system is open-ended and based on rider consensus, description of reference obstacles is outside the scope of the IUF Rulebook. For information on the U-System, visit www.krisholm.com/u-system.

Difficulty levels can be grouped as follows:

Easy lines: U0-U2

Medium lines: U3-U6

Hard lines: U7 and harder

In addition to assigning Easy, Medium, and Hard groupings, experienced course setters may wish to label each obstacle with a U-rating. It may be helpful to rate all obstacles first, and then use this to group the obstacles by difficulty.

Course Planning: Location And Materials

It is most important to make maximum use of available resources. Prior planning and proper site selection are essential. Expect to take at least one day to set a course for a major competition, plus time to assemble the raw building materials.

If possible, select a course location with an abundance of natural obstacles, or features that can be incorporated into human-constructed obstacles. It cannot be overstated that is much easier to make use of what is already there, rather than constructing new obstacles.

Sections may be set on natural features such as bedrock, boulders, logs, and hill slopes, and/or constructed from stacked pallets, railings, truck tires, junkyard cars, obstacles constructed from lumber, or any other material at hand. Often it is good to combine natural features with human-constructed obstacles.

It is highly recommended to also build a basic practice area to be set up outside of the competition area. This can consist of a small number of random obstacles, and is important for warm-up and to reduce the temptation to ride on the course prior to the event.

Make sure that there is plenty of extra building material (tools, screws, and raw materials) on hand to repair sections damaged during the event.

Course Design

Sections should differ substantially from each other and test a variety of hopping and rolling techniques. Often, it is a good idea to mentally make a list of the different techniques in trials, and design sections that test each of them separately or in combination.

The course layout is controlled mainly by the available resources. If there are abundant natural obstacles, design sections around the most obvious natural features.

For either natural or artificial sections, a good way to maximize resources is to first construct several major structures that can be used as centerpieces, or hubs, and then design sections that center around these hubs. For example, a car, spool, or large boulder could serve as a hub, surrounded by smaller structures that lead onto and over the hub in different ways.

Building centralized hubs rather than independent sections allows for high concentrations of sections on less building material. Unlike conventional bike trials, it is not a problem to design overlapping sections, although sometimes it may cause delays as riders wait for their turn. Usually a combination of hubs and independent sections is best.

It is extremely important to design sections that are durable enough that they do not break or change during the competition time period.

Overall, a course should not favor left or right handed riders, or riders with right- or left-foot-forward hopping stances. For example, the Course Setter should include sections requiring hops to both the right and to the left.

It is best to design sections that provide challenge without undue risk. Typically the best-designed sections include moves that test balance and precision, rather than moves that are difficult only because they are big. For example, rather than constructing a big, basic drop or gap between easy terrain, increase the difficulty of the takeoff or landing areas by making them smaller or off-angle. It is strongly recommended to avoid building any drops to hard, flat ground that are greater than 1.5m height.

Time And Space-Saving Strategies

If building material is extremely limited and there are very few participants, an alternative competitive strategy is to create an elimination round, instead of setting an entire course.

A small number of sections are set (as little as 1 section at a time), and riders attempt all sections. Any rider who cannot clean an obstacle after multiple attempts is eliminated. Then a second set of section(s) is set, and the process repeated until only one rider can clean the section(s). This option works with minimal resources but should be regarded as a last resort.