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Older cubers discussions

Jason Green said:
I had a pretty good day of practice the other day, like 100 3x3 and maybe 30 4x4 and some 5x5. Overall I haven't really felt like sitting down to do it much. There is a March competition with a 1:15 4x4 cutoff though so that is going to motivate me to try and get a PB average. I'll get back into practicing blind one of these days just not sure when yet.
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We'll have a DFW comp in Feb 11th as well : 3, 5, 7 cubes, all odd numbered cubes :-)
 
openseas said:
Now, 2018 US Nats information & details have been announced including cutoffs.
Who will be going?

Cutoffs for all BLD events have been tightened compared to the last year, almost 50% in times.
3BLD - 4min (10 min in 2017)
4BLD - 10min (20 min in 2017)
5BLD - 20min (40 min in 2017)
MBLD - 6 points (5 points in 2017)

I'm only qualified for 3x3 and 3BLD, need to work more on all other BLDs to be able to compete in Nats. I guess pretty much this will be my main goal in terms of cubing for 2018 :)

- 3x3 cutoff is 30s avg now. I need to start improving before it goes down to 20s cutoff.
- 2 rounds of 3BLD (compared to 3 rounds of 3BLD in Worlds) - it's debatable but looks like the concern is more related to organization (quiet events at the main stage but with the limited competitors)
- the registration fee has been gone up to $99. Not that I'm complaining, but I think they need to start considering fees from the spectators. When I organize the comp, the biggest challenge is the size of the venue - you need to factor 2x to accommodate spectators which kinda double the venue fee. Kit mentioned that they will consider after this year, the key point is how to implement and maintain (since it needs extra resources) which I agree.

https://cubingusa.org/nationals/2018
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Yeah all I could do is 3x3 unless I improve a lot more at 4x4 or blind in the next two months. I mean I guess I could do 2x2 but that doesn't mean anything to me. So no, I will probably not go. Maybe 2017 will be the only year I get to go.

pglewis said:
All my thoughts and love to you and the family, Jason!
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Thank you so much.

openseas said:
We'll have a DFW comp in Feb 11th as well : 3, 5, 7 cubes, all odd numbered cubes :)
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Cool, I thought y'all were talking about one in Feb also, that'll be great!
 
Howdy guys! Just thought I'd introduce myself briefly... name is Jeremy. I joined the forum sometime last year (not too long ago) to participate in the race to sub-x 3x3 weekly competitions. I hit a plateau and frustration set in, so I haven't participated in those threads for some time.

I note that many/most of you are BLD, multi-Blind and big blind solvers. Wow. Much respect. That's pretty over my head right now. I know if I wanted to commit the time that I could eventually figure it out, but I'm not sure I could dedicate that kind of time to learning an entire new method and algs right now.

I mostly solve my 3x3, but over the last few months have added 2x2 and Skewb to the mix. I actually enjoy those later two and have fun with skewb. I'm SLOW by most any standard in all the events that I compete, but speed comes with time and I enjoy solving the puzzles. I have recently taken a liking to 4x4. I wanted to compete 4x4 so I started to adding it to my registration, but using reduction method I could never reach the hard cutoff at 2:00. I learned Yau a few weeks ago (maybe a month) and right away saw some significant progress. But, just as quickly I've already plateaued on that as well. I did hit 1:41 in my competition so got an official single... it'll be a LONG time before I can hit the 1:15 limit to get a full Ao5 with 4x4 in comp.

FWIW, I'm an official 27s 3x3 solver, but tend to be closer to 25s in practice (this weekend I was having great times and even averaged 21--which is CRAZY for me).

Being an "old guy" I find that I gravitate to this thread regularly and figured it was high-time to join in.

Regarding 2018 US Nats... no way I can justify the travel and cost (hotels, rental car, flights, etc...) this year since we will be moving in July as well.

Sorry for the long intro... I'll try to add value occasionally if I can!
 
SpartanSailor said:
I have recently taken a liking to 4x4. I wanted to compete 4x4 so I started to adding it to my registration, but using reduction method I could never reach the hard cutoff at 2:00. I learned Yau a few weeks ago (maybe a month) and right away saw some significant progress. But, just as quickly I've already plateaued on that as well. I did hit 1:41 in my competition so got an official single... it'll be a LONG time before I can hit the 1:15 limit to get a full Ao5 with 4x4 in comp.
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Not sure what part of the world you're in, but I'm organizing a comp in about 3 1/2 weeks with 1:45/3:30 cutoffs for 4x4. TBH I'm getting a little worried: the only people who have finished signing up are staff.
 
That's my kind of cutoff! I'm in Virginia.... perhaps a bit too far if you're in Wisconsin. I actually have given some thought to organizing a comp. I've met a few delegates and see them regularly at local comps. Aside from making a time limit that would allow me to get an Ao5, I can't think of what other events would be "unique" or draw sufficient number of participants to make it worth doing.

Note: I've never organized a comp either... I'd have a few things to learn.
 
SpartanSailor said:
That's my kind of cutoff! I'm in Virginia.... perhaps a bit too far if you're in Wisconsin. I actually have given some thought to organizing a comp. I've met a few delegates and see them regularly at local comps. Aside from making a time limit that would allow me to get an Ao5, I can't think of what other events would be "unique" or draw sufficient number of participants to make it worth doing.

Note: I've never organized a comp either... I'd have a few things to learn.
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VA's not so bad! I went to college in Purcellville (basically between Dulles and Winchester). I'd pull out around noon or 1:00, hit Chicago around 1:00 or 2:00 AM, and be home by 7:00. Theoretically you could skip two consecutive nights of sleep and only be away from home from midday Friday to midday Sunday. :-)

I've never organized a comp either, and I've only been to 1. It's not that hard, at least so far.
 
SpartanSailor said:
I am all about the road-warrior stuff... I'll drive all night to get somewhere. I have friends in Chicago, I might be able to make a trip to visit them, then, I'd be "in the neighborhood" already for a Wisconsin comp!
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Welcome to the club!
There are a lot of comps within driving distance from VA especially since you're one of the road-warrior :-)
 
openseas said:
Welcome to the club!
There are a lot of comps within driving distance from VA especially since you're one of the road-warrior :)
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I started competing about a year ago... Aside from 2017 Nationals (which I took my son to), I haven't had to get too crazy on the road to find events. I've done 11 comps in 13 or so months. VA and MD have a fair number of comps... Add PA and NJ... and you can keep pretty busy on the comp circuit. There are LOTS of fast younger cubers too. I'll probably never see the second round of a competition! LOL
 
SpartanSailor said:
I started competing about a year ago... Aside from 2017 Nationals (which I took my son to), I haven't had to get too crazy on the road to find events. I've done 11 comps in 13 or so months. VA and MD have a fair number of comps... Add PA and NJ... and you can keep pretty busy on the comp circuit. There are LOTS of fast younger cubers too. I'll probably never see the second round of a competition! LOL
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Yes, there are a lot there. We're lucky to have one per month here in Texas. On top of that, even within Texas, I need to drive 5~6 hrs (one way) at least. But we're trying to organize more local comps here in North Texas now.

Your time is close to mine - never had a chance to go to the 2nd round either :-)
One time, 100 competitors, the organize decide to cut up to 50 people while I was 51 :-( That was the closest I ever got.
 
openseas said:
Yes, there are a lot there. We're lucky to have one per month here in Texas. On top of that, even within Texas, I need to drive 5~6 hrs (one way) at least. But we're trying to organize more local comps here in North Texas now.

Your time is close to mine - never had a chance to go to the 2nd round either :)
One time, 100 competitors, the organize decide to cut up to 50 people while I was 51 :-( That was the closest I ever got.
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Yeah, I once was 64 after the first round. The initial cut was at 64, but during lunch the organizers decided to reduce the 2nd round "to save time" and brought the cutline down to 50. I didn't know that, however, until I returned from lunch...

If I drove 5-6 hours, I'd be 3 states away! Texas is HUGE. My daughter lives in the DFW area... Might have to plan a visit and link up with a DFW comp :-)

I noticed that you came out here to the Maryland 2017 comp back in October too. I was there...
 
I'm in Cincinnati and it's a black hole for comps right now. The Ann Arbor one is probably about 4hrs one way but of course I have a schedule conflict with the only thing on my calendar for the month of Jan. Won't be too long though, I'm sure.

comps.jpg
 
@Lid - Great time mate, well done.

@SpartanSailor - Welcome to the Oldies thread. I recall you doing the Race to Sub-X back in the day, which I still run. Hope you continue to make good progress.

@One Wheel - I hope attendance picks up for you at your comp. From my experience in running one recently (https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/competitions/WSMO2017) there were several registrations in the closing week, so hopefully you will get similar. Or maybe it will just be a case of Walker and Joshua podiuming in all your events.

Cheers one and all. I hope everyone has had a good festive break.
 
Shaky Hands said:
@Lid - Great time mate, well done.

@SpartanSailor - Welcome to the Oldies thread. I recall you doing the Race to Sub-X back in the day, which I still run. Hope you continue to make good progress.


Cheers one and all. I hope everyone has had a good festive break.
Click to expand...

I was stuck at the race to sub-25.... got pretty close, then seemed to regress. That's when I decided to do something more than just 3x3 and gave 2x2 and skewb a shot. In the end, I'm having more fun... but still struggle to have consistent 3x3 times in competitions. That said, I'm averaging low 24s over my most recent 100+ solves. I'm much better when I'm relaxed, but then I bet that's true for everyone. Maybe I'll jump back into the weekly 3x3 and see where I'm at now...
 
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