Older cubers discussions

[pglewis]

[...] they used to get confused when my son got his check in stuff complete and I was standing there trying to check in as well. “Oh, you compete too?” Yes. Yes I do.

Yeah, unlike the UK contingent that descends en masse I'm fairly certain I've had a bare minimum of 15 years on any competitors at any of the comps I've attended around here so far, probably more than twenty years. I've gotten a lot of smiles and looks of surprise when parents see me with a competitor lanyard on. One of my missions at comps is to convince more parents to compete. I've discovered in conversation that a fair number actually know how to solve in the 1-3 min range and since they're gonna be there all day anyway they might as well sign up for 3x3 at least, and come nervously practice with the rest of us.

Yeah that's my problem, in addition for me I feel like I have to be "ready" to even start. Long day and I'm tired I can just sit down and do some normal practice to relax, but not so much with blind yet.

Yup, same as both of you. It takes a mental toll and I know I have to be "ready" to practice full blind solves. Of course, I still memo 3bld like I'm doing mbld, I can usually still remember my last memo 15 minutes later. That was improving a little when I tailed-off, at least.

 

[newtonbase]

Another question, do you have any faster solution for U layer centres? I do all the letter pairs for centres in simple 3-cycle, but not those on U. With wings it is almost 90% of them, but the three U layer stickers for centres takes long Alg approach for me.

What is your centres buffer and do you know/use U2 at all?

 

[newtonbase]

Yeah, unlike the UK contingent that descends en masse I'm fairly certain I've had a bare minimum of 15 years on any competitors at any of the comps

I was the oldest by about 13 years at my first comp but then the Older Cubers scene had a mini explosion.

 

[Logiqx]

Ao12 OH PB: 24.276 (was 24.896 from 2 weeks ago)

Nice times. I think my PB Ao12 is 24.76 from just before Christmas so our times are pretty close.

I've added 2016DUEH02 + 2017GRAD03 to the rankings.

 

[mark49152]

Which 5?.

Speffz A, L, R, J, T. Sometimes B and D are better but the first 5 are habit.

Another question, do you have any faster solution for U layer centres?

Yep, same trick as M2 slice targets. Like U p U p' U2 where p sets up an adjacent target. You can probably work it out from there

 

[newtonbase]

Speffz A, L, R, J, T. Sometimes B and D are better but the first 5 are habit.

They were my first guess but then I thought that you might do S and I for the advanced r2 moves.

Which comps are the UK cubers going to if those announced so far. I'm booked for Manchester and should be good for High Wycombe. Wales is too far and not so keen on Guildford due to M25 and no 3BLD. Hoping to get to Peterborough if it doesn't clash with anything. It's close enough for a quick dash for favourite events.

 

[Shaky Hands]

Which comps are the UK cubers going to if those announced so far. I'm booked for Manchester and should be good for High Wycombe. Wales is too far and not so keen on Guildford due to M25 and no 3BLD. Hoping to get to Peterborough if it doesn't clash with anything. It's close enough for a quick dash for favourite events.

I'm going to everything I can (until I can't!) Aiming to keep my only cubing accomplishment going since my PB streak died at Worlds... https://jonatanklosko.github.io/wca_statistics/longest_streak_of_competitions_in_own_country

 

[mitja]

What is your centres buffer and do you know/use U2 at all?

Yes I use U2, buffer UBr, but try to solve two stickers at the time, it is 3-cycle. One sticker goes by setup to target, other gets solved and the fist one back with undo setup.

 

[mitja]

Speffz A, L, R, J, T. Sometimes B and D are better but the first 5 are habit.


Yep, same trick as M2 slice targets. Like U p U p' U2 where p sets up an adjacent target. You can probably work it out from there

thanks i think I understand, I will try it.

 

[newtonbase]

thanks i think I understand, I will try it.

Mark's option is good for adjacent pieces and I'd stick with U2 for Ufl. Personally I use simple comms for adjacent centres. eg Ubr - Ubl - Fur is F' l F r' F' l' F r You can set up to these in no more than 2 moves I believe and they work on the D face too with a double slice move. They are easy to get used to. Just remember to solve the non U face piece first.

 

[Logiqx]

They were my first guess but then I thought that you might do S and I for the advanced r2 moves.

Which comps are the UK cubers going to if those announced so far. I'm booked for Manchester and should be good for High Wycombe. Wales is too far and not so keen on Guildford due to M25 and no 3BLD. Hoping to get to Peterborough if it doesn't clash with anything. It's close enough for a quick dash for favourite events.

I'm hoping to attend High Wycombe. I have clashes for everything else before that one.

 

[mitja]

Mark's option is good for adjacent pieces and I'd stick with U2 for Ufl. Personally I use simple comms for adjacent centres. eg Ubr - Ubl - Fur is F' l F r' F' l' F r You can set up to these in no more than 2 moves I believe and they work on the D face too with a double slice move. They are easy to get used to. Just remember to solve the non U face piece first.

I use U2 for UFl, yes. This example looks very nice that you gave me, but i dont fully understand the formula yet. I do understand Mark's U p U p' U2 formula. I just try to think about single movement of U. If U2 is on the end, then the U layer movement for that U p U p starts in target piece direction. So if Second piece is Ufr then above Formula works and if second piece is Ubl, then U' p U' p U2 works. And opposite if U2 is at the beginning then the U slice movment is away from target, so if the first piece is Ufr the formula is U2 p U' p U'. And for first Ubl it is U2 p U p U. Thats how I try to remember it. So it is 9-11 movement 3 cycle. Yours looks shorter ( 8 moves in your example), I will try to understand the system, thanks.

 

[mitja]

Ubr - Ubl - Fur is F' l F r' F' l' F r You can set up to these in no more than 2 moves I believe and they work on the D face too with a double slice move. They are easy to get used to. Just remember to solve the non U face piece first.

Do you always setup to Ful if the U layer piece is Ubl? What do you do for Ufr? Do you solve from the side ( and setup to Luf)or to Rdf ?

 

[SpartanSailor]

I thought I'd update on my own recent BLD exploits as that's pretty much all I've been practicing for the past 7-10 days since learning M2 to replace OP Edges.

I now have all of the M-slice algorithms and parity (edge-first) in muscle memory and can finger-trick most of them too. Most of my practice has been just doing the M2 portion of a BLD-solve as I know how to solve OP corners already and I want to focus what I'm practicing on. I haven't tracked my success rate but I reckon it's around 40% at the moment, with most mistakes coming from execution.

I don't time them all, but it looks like my PB for M2 edge-only memo and execution is 1:06.49 with R' D2 B2 U2 F2 R' U2 L2 R' U2 L B F2 L D' U' F' L B D' R2 Rw' Uw' (10 targets.) Again, this is just for edges before anyone thinks I'm doing insanely well!

Overall, I think it's going well. I know my memo speed is improving too. Other than the occasional MBLD, this is probably the first concentrated BLD practice I've done since April 2017 when I was working towards my first official 3BLD success for that month's comp.

I also watched a 4BLD tutorial and whilst I'm not planning on going down that route yet, at least I understood it.

I would think if you take OH seriously, you ought to be able to get Sub-24 by the end of the year.... especially given you’re certainly capable of sub-24.

 

[SpartanSailor]

I was the oldest by about 13 years at my first comp but then the Older Cubers scene had a mini explosion.

I’m pretty sure I had 20 years on the next oldest at my most recent comp this weekend... one kid seemed shocked that I had a few “nice” cubes and I said to him, “well, I’m an adult and don’t need my parents to buy me cubes.” He laughed.

The “older” crowd at my comps seems to be a contingent from the University of Maryland. All undergrads, but definitely “old” by the otherwise typical standard of 12 and under. But they are pretty interesting guys and I enjoy the comps they put on.

 

[SpartanSailor]

My BLD practise today just kind of happened. I was trying to unwind and didn’t feel up to the level of focus needed, so I drilled set-ups each piece one at a time. I think it’ll help my piece recognition and thereby my memo speed. But nevertheless, it’ll improve my execution and confidence. And it’s fairly mindless...

 

[Shaky Hands]

I would think if you take OH seriously, you ought to be able to get Sub-24 by the end of the year.... especially given you’re certainly capable of sub-24.

Unlikely, I suck real bad at OH, do almost no practice and my PB single at home is 35.87.

 

[mitja]

Do you always setup to Ful if the U layer piece is Ubl? What do you do for Ufr? Do you solve from the side ( and setup to Luf)or to Rdf ?

Don't know what I was thinking, you just gave me the switching comm, I get it.

 

[openseas]

Another question, do you have any faster solution for U layer centres? I do all the letter pairs for centres in simple 3-cycle, but not those on U. With wings it is almost 90% of them, but the three U layer stickers for centres takes long Alg approach for me.

For U layer, I close a cycle and then just do U or U' to float the buffer. For example, if your buffer is Ubl, and the next target is Ubr, I close a cycle and do U' so that Ubr becomes Ubl (a new buffer) and keep it as buffer until it closes its own new cycle then put it back (U) at the end.

 

[newtonbase]

Don't know what I was thinking, you just gave me the switching comm, I get it.

Yes. It's pretty easy. I set up wherever its easiest so might be the U face, the target or a rotation.

For U layer, I close a cycle and then just do U or U' to float the buffer. For example, if your buffer is Ubl, and the next target is Ubr, I close a cycle and do U' so that Ubr becomes Ubl (a new buffer) and keep it as buffer until it closes its own new cycle then put it back (U) at the end.

That's nice. I hadn't considered a U move to float the buffer but it makes a lot of sense.
Do any of the top 3BLD guys who float buffers just set up to their normal buffer piece or do they all know multiple buffers now?