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[Member Intro] Aiming for a Sub 30 Average - aged 61

Kevin1958

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Mar 9, 2020
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I highly recommend you attend a competition and luckily for you there is a comp in Bristol in September so you wouldn't even have to travel. https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/competitions/BristolOpen2020

Entering a competition sounds great but I will be 62 by then. I'm guessing they don't get many entrants that old?

Also - I see there is a bit of discussion about turning speed - is it worth me posting a video showing a couple of typical solves to get some feedback on my technique?
 

Tabe

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Entering a competition sounds great but I will be 62 by then. I'm guessing they don't get many entrants that old?
Not usually anybody of that age but always some 40+, especially when I attend :)

Also - I see there is a bit of discussion about turning speed - is it worth me posting a video showing a couple of typical solves to get some feedback on my technique?
Sure, can't hurt!
 

Mike Hughey

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I'm about to turn 58, and while I'm more into the side events, especially BLD, I currently average about 20 seconds. There are quite a few others like me on that older cubers thread.

I'm sure it's much easier for me to maintain my speed having gotten sub-30 when I was in my mid-40s than it would be to get there at my current age. But I'm still quite sure it could have been done.

I don't get many chances to go to competitions these days because of family commitments, but I still really enjoy going when I can. Being the oldest competitor there is not a problem; in many ways, it's kind of fun to be the oldest one there. And there's always the parents you can interact with.

You should really go to a competition if you can. It's a fun experience.
 

jdh3000

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Hi guys - my name is Kevin, I'm 61 years old and I live in Bristol, England.

I completely missed out on the Rubik's cube craze in the 80's but I'm making up for it now :) I remember a few friends back then having cubes but I never tried one. Fast forward a few decades and my 39 year old daughter buys me a Rubik's brand cube for Christmas 2018 which stays in its box until she opens it and solves it herself in May 2019 after many hours of studying the enclosed instructions.

So that was it! I couldn't let her beat me, so I secretly spent the next few weeks studying loads of YouTube videos to memorise the beginners method and in June demonstrated my new skills to her with a time of 2 minutes 43 seconds which I've been obsessively trying to lower ever since.

I now use a GAN356X with CFOP (2 look OLL and 2 look PLL) and my current single solve PB is 29.35 although I concentrate on lowering my 10 consecutive solves average PB which currently stands at 41.35

My next goal is to capture a single sub 30 on video but having only managed that once in over 20,000 attempts that could take a while. My ultimate goal is a sub 30 average for 10 consecutive solves.

I know these times will be ridiculously easy for many of you - and I don't want to make excuses - BUT - age definitely takes its toll. For instance, I can't run or play squash (or do pretty much anything) like I used to. My 61 year old brain is nowhere near as sharp as it was and these fingers don't move anything like they used to ;) but I'm sure another single sub 30 will come along one day and maybe that sub 30 average for 10 consecutive solves wont be far behind?

This chart shows my single solve PB progression to date:

View attachment 11515

Thanks for reading.

Kevin

HI, I'm 53 years old... hovering around 20 seconds. I've been at it a while but speedcubing for about 10 years. I got better afyer getting the gan354m then moved the the 356xs.

Learning full oll/pll helped me, but they say you don't have to to get sub 20.

Try tutorials on efficient cross. I thought my cross was good, but it cam always be improved.

Get better on f2l, get a few algorithms for difficult cases. Try to eliminate any pause between f2l inserts. The biggest obstacle for me has been transitioning from cross to f2l. Sometimes it's better than others.

If you are pausing, slow down just a bit and try doing it smoothly.
 

Kevin1958

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Mar 9, 2020
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Thanks for all the fabulous advice which I have completely taken on board.

To be honest I think the only thing I can do now is practice practice practice as I just don't have the capacity to learn the algorithms for full OLL or PLL as learning 2 look OLL & PLL took me forever and its now totally ingrained as are my cross & F2L moves.

In the last few days my single solve PB has reduced to 28.16 which is only the second time I have broken 30 seconds in well over 20,000 solves.

What can see improving dramatically going forward is my consistency as all of 10 solve averages are now sub 45 with a new 41.23 PB today and plenty of sub 40s in there.

I think I will naturally lower my 10 solve averages over time and no doubt when it goes into the 30s those elusive sub 30s will show up more and more often.

Thanks again for all your comments and happy cubing.
 

Mike Hughey

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I think it might be worth it to learn full PLL. Not OLL - that really brings very little benefit. But full PLL really helps a lot, especially for us oldies - we tend to be slower at PLL algorithms than the youngsters, and also cutting out that extra recognition helps.

But don't go for it all at once. Just add one or two new algs at a time. You can then just drill solves until they're automatic - even if that means a month or more between adding algorithms. I would say just learn one at a time, but if they can be learned as mirrors (such as the Js, the Rs, or the Ns), it can be just as easy to learn the pair as to learn a single one. If you add one per month, you'll have all of them in a year or so.
 

Kevin1958

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Ive just been checking.

So - once I complete my 1st look PLL there are 4 possible 2nd look Algorithms to completely solve the cube (although 2 are mirror images). So I know 3 (or 4 if the mirror image algorithms count as 2) which makes the prospeft of learning full PLL slightly less daunting
 
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Ive just been checking.

So - once I complete my 1st look PLL there are 4 possible 2nd look Algorithms to completely solve the cube (although 2 are mirror images). So I know 3 (or 4 if the mirror image algorithms count as 2) which makes the prospeft of learning full PLL slightly less daunting
21 algorithms including mirrors. So the mirror images would count as two.
 

Kevin1958

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Mar 9, 2020
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Does anybody else use numbers to remember the algorithms?

For my 2 x 2nd look PLL algorithms which involve U & M moves I just remember 11-21-21-122 U’ & 21-22-212 instead of M U M2 U etc....
 
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