Older cubers discussions

[mark49152]

That could be around 25s with corner comms but I know she's not interested in learning them.

Probably. Grzegorz's point was that OP corners can still be very fast, although you're right that nobody world class would waste all those moves. It takes a long time to get comms anywhere near the TPS of a Y-perm, even for us oldies. I have been working on corner comms for a year and am probably now about 5 seconds faster due to comms. It took at least 6 months to get there. In the meantime my memo improved by about 15 seconds. I still haven't beaten my official PB set with OP last summer .

 

[newtonbase]

Probably. Grzegorz's point was that OP corners can still be very fast, although you're right that nobody world class would waste all those moves. It takes a long time to get comms anywhere near the TPS of a Y-perm, even for us oldies. I have been working on corner comms for a year and am probably now about 5 seconds faster due to comms. It took at least 6 months to get there. In the meantime my memo improved by about 15 seconds. I still haven't beaten my official PB set with OP last summer .

It'll happen soon for you I'm sure.

I still struggle to do corner comms untimed.

 

[muchacho]

I've been speedcubing a little over 2 years now and have timed solves going back these last 2 years...

Similar number of solves than me (and will be 2 years in 3 months) but 2 seconds faster.

PPT FTW!

 

[JanW]

I've been speedcubing a little over 2 years now and have timed solves going back these last 2 years. I like to keep these stats as they are a reminder for how much I have actually improved even when I think I'm hitting a plateau. Realised yesterday that I had new ao5, ao12, and ao100 PB's when I started looking and parsing all the info to build my solve histogram for the last 2 years

a05 = 14.12
ao12 = 15.71
ao100 = 16.69

16.69 ao100 in 2 years is impressive! I most likely won't get anywhere near that. If I could get a sub-20 in the next 6 months I'd be very happy.

Did another sub-23 Ao100 today. I got a 15.46 full-step single, which I think is my full-step pb. Didn't reconstruct, but it was Sune and F-perm. Now all I need is a similar solve with a PLL skip and I might finally beat my pb single, which probably is close to 6 months old by now.

My running Ao1000 also hit sub-24 for the first time. Guess this is a sign of improvement, despite not improving the smaller averages in a while.

 

[gogozerg]

edit: Gilles Roux is registered for Worlds!

Sure, I guess the venue is less than 1 hour from where I live. And I want to watch pro cubers!

 

[newtonbase]

Sure, I guess the venue is less than 1 hour from where I live. And I want to watch pro cubers!

Your first comp in a while. Do you practice much nowadays?

 

[JanW]

I've been less impressed by the performance of my MoJue lately, so I gave the Valk yet one more chance. I adjusted the tensions for the third or forth time and finally I got it right. At least more right than on previous attempts. Got my first sub-22 Ao100, also new pb Ao50 and Ao12. The Ao12 is pretty nice:

Generated By csTimer on 2017-3-25
avg of 12: 20.60

Time List:
1. 19.82 U B2 L2 U2 R' B2 R2 U2 L F2 D2 U B' D F2 D R' B2 D2 L'
2. 19.83 F B' D' R F' B D' R2 F' R2 F2 D2 F2 L2 D F2 U L2 U
3. (26.61) F' D2 L2 F2 D2 B2 D' L2 F2 U B2 D' L' R' B' D B2 U F' U2 B
4. 24.96 R2 B2 D L2 U' B2 D B2 D2 L2 U' L F U L B' R F' U' F2
5. 17.24 B U2 F2 L' R2 U2 R F2 R' U2 B2 R2 D' L2 F U B F' L R' F
6. 19.43 U' L2 F2 L2 B2 D' U' L2 D' F2 U F U2 L' R' D' B L B D2 L2
7. 23.73 R2 B2 D' B' D' R' F2 U2 F R U2 D L2 D' L2 F2 L2 F2 U' R2
8. 19.99 F' B2 U' L' D2 L2 D L' U L2 U L2 D2 L2 F2 L2 D' L2 D2 B'
9. 19.46 B' L D2 R2 U2 R' U2 R' B2 L B2 F L' B U' L' U2 F2 L'
10. 19.66 D' B2 U2 F2 R' U2 B2 R' D2 L2 B' D L2 R B U' L F' R2
11. (14.69) B2 L2 B U2 F' R2 B L2 D2 U2 R2 D B2 L' F2 R2 D U B L'
12. 21.83 U' D2 F2 D2 U2 L' F2 R' B2 U2 B2 L2 U B' L2 F L U' R' F2

I like the ratio of sub-20 solves. Now all I need is to make that ratio constant.

The 14.69 single is my fastest single so far this year and second fastest single ever. It was an OLL skip and T-perm.

 

[pipkiksass]

@pipkiksass Congratulations! Tell me your secret! I've been stuck at mid-18 average for ages now.

Turning off the timer and getting better at inspection. Also, I think as I've learnt more OLLs, these are gradually getting absorbed and are starting to work for me in speed solves. I need to finger trick some of my new OLLs, because theres a couple which lead to 19+ solves. Also, I struggle with PLLs which require a 2-handed regrip - these often add a couple of seconds for me, so I might look for new algs.

</offtopic>

Yeah, I think I've just got better at cross. I still have a long way to go, because I don't EVER plan my first pair. When I get a lucky first pair I generally get 13-15s solves, so this is clearly where I need to look for improvement. For me, the big step up that helped me get sub-18 was having a modicum of lookahead and using inspection better.

Improvement seems to happen in a haphazard way for me. I didn't do much deliberative practice recently, but I think some of the stuff I was doing c.3 months ago (slow solves, learning OLLs, working with cross) has finally sunk in, and just spamming timed solves is helping to reinforce better habits. I guess the thing to do is turn the timer off for a week, learn some new stuff, then turn it back on for a bit?

My next step is to turn the timer off, and try to teach myself cross+1 BLD. However long it takes! I reckon if I could do cross+1 BLD every solve, I could be sub-15 VERY quickly, as cross > F2L is my weakest stage.

Has anyone spent any time on CubeSkills.com? I haven't had the opportunity yet, as I gently ease myself back in to the world of work. @David Zemdegs, I really hope Feliks can find a reliable way to monetise cubing - I think he's a great ambassador for cubing in general, and it would be a shame if real life and/or a job intruded on his practice time!

I've been speedcubing a little over 2 years now and have timed solves going back these last 2 years. I like to keep these stats as they are a reminder for how much I have actually improved even when I think I'm hitting a plateau. Realised yesterday that I had new ao5, ao12, and ao100 PB's when I started looking and parsing all the info to build my solve histogram for the last 2 years The last 3 days things have been consistently low with yesterday seeing the largest % of sub-15's of all solves yesterday hitting a high of 24% (16/65) solves

I have achieved one of my cubing life-time goals of achieving a sub-10, unfortunately it has only been once but I'm getting closer more regularly lately with a few 12's and 11's this last week alone.

a05 = 14.12
ao12 = 15.71
ao100 = 16.69

View attachment 7683 View attachment 7684

I've been cubing a LOT longer than you, and you're a good second faster than me! Maybe it's the frustration of waiting for your postal service to deliver that spurs you on?

 

[JanW]

My next step is to turn the timer off, and try to teach myself cross+1 BLD. However long it takes!

I find that more and more often I attempt to preserve some pair and do an Xcross, but most of the time this fails miserably and I end up losing time doing so. Like you say, it would probably be a good idea to turn the timer off and focus specifically on cross+1 for a while. I might do it once I've broken the sub-20 barrier.

 

[mafergut]

I think that would be a good idea. There are two types of solves where I spot 1 pair I want to preserve during cross. The ones that turn out to be too complex and I end up wasting more time than I save (or I completely fumble the solve) and the ones that are easy to see how to preserve the pair during inspectiong, which end up being 17.xx seconds or better most of the time. I can see how getting more of the second case would improve my averages.

Solving 3x3 is becoming more and more frustrating for me lately. So I either try something new or forget about it for a while and keep practising big cubes, which I'm enjoying more.

By the way, 5x5 PB single 2:14.58.

 

[Jason Green]

I never liked it anyway. They send me emails occasionally saying someone is following me so if they do get it working again then a big Hello to all my stalkers!

It was still working good for me, but I understand not wanting to support it especially if there are things they could not control. I'll probably prefer the mobile site too after I use it a bit. . I had all emails turned off. I think you can still follow people through the forum am I wrong? I never do that anyway on purpose.

Feeling optimistic about qualifying for 4x4 and OH for Nationals. I did 17 4x4 solves earlier and only 5 were a little over 1:30. Also had a 1:29 double parity while being bugged by my wife and kids about where the phone charger was. Haha, that got a big "yes!!" from me!

Edit: yes see I can still follow you.

 

[David Zemdegs]

Has anyone spent any time on CubeSkills.com? I haven't had the opportunity yet, as I gently ease myself back in to the world of work. @David Zemdegs, I really hope Feliks can find a reliable way to monetise cubing - I think he's a great ambassador for cubing in general, and it would be a shame if real life and/or a job intruded on his practice time!

I hope to find the time to go through his videos as well. Feliks is working very hard on his website and there will be heaps more stuff added in the future. I'm really looking forward to competing at the Worlds! My aim is not to be the slowest

 

[mark49152]

Edit: yes see I can still follow you.

Haha, now I'm following both of you

 

[pglewis]

I'm such a work in progress that I don't really bother tracking large averages. The biggest I track in my spreadsheet is Ao50 and the last time I sat down and did one was over a month ago at 37.51. Knocked a good chunk off with a 33.05 tonight. I now declare: death to all sup 30s.

 

[Jason Green]

Haha, now I'm following both of you

You were basically following me already, I rarely post anywhere but here.

I'm such a work in progress that I don't really bother tracking large averages. The biggest I track in my spreadsheet is Ao50 and the last time I sat down and did one was over a month ago at 37.51. Knocked a good chunk off with a 33.05 tonight. I now declare: death to all sup 30s.

I hardly ever do real big averages. If I keep DNFs on my phone timer it will not give the mean, so I usually just throw them out. They are rare enough I am just planning not to get more than 1 DNF or really bad solve during an official attempt, which so far has held true. But if I'm going to go for a PB averages of 50 or 100 I have to have a different mindset and be a little more careful because obviously I can't throw out solves and count that.

Edit: actually just played with cstimer a bit because I wasn't sure how it did means, and I see it drops the DNFs. I like that maybe I'll just start leaving them in and then anytime I get an average I'll know it's legit and I can count it.

 

[JanW]

Did a 2x2 session today. My second session ever, apparently. I previously had 50 timed solves in cstimer from last fall. Cut a few seconds of all pbs, now 4.84/7.60/8.25/8.65/9.20 (1/5/12/50/100). That's some nice progress without practice. So, I guess I'll see you again in 6 months, 2x2.

 

[mafergut]

@JanW I wish I was able to do that. It's more than enough for me if I just keep my old times after some weeks without practising any event. Do you do LBL or Ortega (or other)?

My 1st sub-6min 6x6 solve finally! 5:54.10. Still too slow compared with 4x4 and 5x5 so... I need to practise more. By the way, I ordered a G6, will tell you how it performs as soon as I get my hands on it.

 

[chtiger]

keeping with tradition of posting comp results
http://cubecomps.com/live.php?cid=2083&compid=69

3x3 -- no real goals, sub-20 avg would be nice, but that's a long shot
26.83, 20.65, 22.35, 17.88, 26.90 = 23.28
got a good improvement on single

skewb -- 1st time at comp, avg about 12 at home, sub-14 would be decent
rd 1 -- 14.93, DNF, 12.33, 15.35, 15.55 = 15.28
rd 2 -- 11.29, 12.42, 11.31, 17.38, 8.70 = 11.67
glad I made the 2nd round because it went much better

square-1 -- sub-45 avg would be pretty good for me
rd 1 -- 28.03, 39.52, 41.34, 40.25, 40.74 = 40.17
rd 2 -- DNF, 35.85, 37.33, 58.98, 36.70 = 44.34
that went much better than expected

clock -- one of my two main goals is sub 11 clock avg. Should be trying for sub 10, but I'm not greedy
rd 1 -- 13.06, DNF, 13.30, 14.44, 15.79 = 14.51
I don't know what that was, every solve was terrible
rd 2 -- 9.54, 10.70, 10.14, DNF (noooooo), DNF (NOOOOOOO) = DNF
still can't believe I did that. Don't remember exact times, but 4th solve was mid 11's , 5th was mid 10's

Now I've got 2-3 weeks of this thread to catch up on.

 

[mafergut]

@chtiger Those are really nice results! Very nice 3x3 and SQ1 singles and skewb average. Sorry about clock. You still have lots of PBs you can set on big cubes if you decide to try them at your next comp

Wow! Second sub 6min 6x6 single of the day and this one is much better: 5:37.76. Almost halfway to sub-5min in one day feels good.

 

[JanW]

@JanW I wish I was able to do that. It's more than enough for me if I just keep my old times after some weeks without practising any event. Do you do LBL or Ortega (or other)?

I do Ortega.

Okay, it's a bit of an exaggeration to say I haven't practiced it at all. I keep my 2x2, 4x4 and 5x5 on a shelf by the TV. When I'm watching something on TV I usually play around with a cube. Most of the time it's a 3x3, but sometimes I reach for one of the other sizes. So over the past few months I have occasionally picked up the 2x2 to refresh my memory. No more frequently than maybe once every few weeks, but enough to not forget the Ortega algs.