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Older cubers discussions

Updates:

OH PB: 39.57. Sadly I'm not sure that I'm truly sub-60 yet. Need to work on my consistency.

Comp leadup updates:

3BLD: I need to work on memo some this weekend... next weekend is comp. 15m cumulative cufoff... If I can get 1-2 successes... that'd be great.
OH cutoff: 45s soft / forget the hard. I have a shot at the soft... but I really need some luck and practice.
3x3 2H: Honestly, I'm slower 2H right now than OH. So I may be stuck doing it OH. That's life.
4x4: I'll drop. I can't get to the hard cut. It is 2m or 3m.. I'm at ~5m. Really.. I need more practice. I can solve 4x4, and enjoy it... but no way I'm making up that much time.
 
I've or more work into 4x4 and you've put more into OH, but I run ~34 2H, one solve it of 5 sub-1:00 OH, and 1:45-1:50 on 4x4. You might not be as far off as you think.

Both. My 4x4 is still REALLY improving quickly. And my OH times are within ~2-3s of what I'd expect 2H.

I've considered taking up more 2H just to enable me to do longer practice sessions... but really.. .2H 3x3 never captured me. OH did.
 
Yau.

My times are coming down.. but not enough that I'm making that cut in a week ;). Keep in mind my 3x3 OH times.

Yeah, if you're anything like me even if I found a miracle to shave that much time quickly I wouldn't have the confidence under me for comp conditions. If ya only had a couple more weeks!

Also a Yau user here, some focused half-centers practice has got me peaking right around 2m for my better solves now. Six weeks 'til comp so should be fun to see if I can luck into snagging an official average with those same cuts.

Good luck next weekend!
 
Yeah, if you're anything like me even if I found a miracle to shave that much time quickly I wouldn't have the confidence under me for comp conditions. If ya only had a couple more weeks!

Also a Yau user here, some focused half-centers practice has got me peaking right around 2m for my better solves now. Six weeks 'til comp so should be fun to see if I can luck into snagging an official average with those same cuts.

Good luck next weekend!

Ironically, I just went and did a small set of 2H solves... set my PB at 37.91. I can tell my times are set to drop like a rock. I just need more consistency. It may be time for 2H practice mainly so I can do more solves... OH really limits how many solves a day you can do. ;)

Thanks... 3BLD is the one I'm worried about. The other two.. will do what they do.
 
I'm on fire today! Right after getting my first sub-20 Ao12 earlier this week, I cut off one more second for a sub-19:

Generated By csTimer on 2017-4-23
avg of 12: 18.77

Time List:
1. (15.17) R' D2 B2 D2 L2 U2 F L2 F L2 U2 F' D' B L D2 U' L' B' D2 B2
2. 20.35 U F' R D B' L' F' L B L U' R2 U2 B2 L2 B2 R2 U' B2 U'
3. 17.78 R D2 L' F2 L2 D2 R B2 L' F2 R' U' F' D L D2 L' U' L2 F
4. 16.78 F2 L2 D2 U B2 U L2 B2 R2 B2 U B L B' L2 U F R B F'
5. 20.75 R2 U' L2 B2 L2 R2 U' B2 U' F' L' F2 D' U2 F' L R F' U
6. 17.88 R L' B' U' L' D' F' D2 B U B2 D' B2 R2 D' B2 U F2 U' R2
7. 16.28 F' R D L' D2 F2 R2 D U2 F' R2 F' R2 B' U2 F2 L2 B2 U
8. (23.87) F2 R2 F' L2 F2 R2 U2 F R2 F2 L U R' B' F' L' D R2 B F'
9. 18.08 R2 B2 L F2 L' B2 F2 U2 R D2 R' D B' L' R' U L' D' R2 B
10. 21.80 D2 U2 R2 B D2 U2 L2 B2 U2 B L B R B D' B2 L U F' D F'
11. 18.88 U2 B' L2 F D2 B' F2 R2 U2 B2 D2 L B' D2 U' R F U' R B2 L2
12. 19.12 D2 B' D2 F R2 F' L2 D2 F2 L2 R2 D' B' D2 F' R2 U2 R' U2 F'

Solves 3-7 make up a new Ao5 pb, improving on old Ao5 by 0.7 seconds. It's been quite a while since I improved that average.

First solve above is probably my new full-step pb. It wasn't one of the easiest OLLs, combined with T perm. A new pb single can come any day now, as long as I get a skip on the right solve. Oh, and also, improved Ao100 pb to 21.35. :)
 
@JohnnyReggae yeah, I find the cross the most awkward part of the solve in OH too. I try to grab the cube in ways that can at least simplify frist two or three edges, which can be from one side of even from the top but at times I lose track of my orientation for a split second or even fumble the cube.
... I'm much closer to full CN than in 2H, though. The slower TPS gives me more time to see the F2L pairs when doing cross in other colours.
With OH I also struggle with orientation after doing the cross because of all the z, x, and y rotations happening, but I am getting better and not wasting time with carrying on. The look ahead practice I've been putting in on 2H has also been paying off with OH.

Well done on the CN !! :) I'm actually quite envious ... and I know I can do it, I just need to put the time in. My biggest issue is the perceived step backwards that needs to be taken in order to become CN. I'm also putting in a lot of concerted effort with look ahead atm that I don't want to loose that momentum as my times have been improving quite nicely of late.

I think building the cross on R is the way to go for OH. In most cases it will be at most one x rotation and only RUD. Finish with a z rotation in the end which is the easiest rotation to perform OH.
I don't generally do this because I'm bad at planning my whole cross / looking ahead to my first pair so I am confused after finishing the cross resulting in a huge pause.

Building the cross on bottom my strategy is to do the double side face moves (F2, R2, B2, L2) on L and R and use thumb fingertricks for single side face moves (like F or F'), because F2 is awkward. Of course sometimes more rotations are required (for example if your cross is something like R2 B2 L2 F2 but that happens rarely).

Hope that helps.
Doing the cross on R sounds like a good idea. I think I'll give it a go and see how it works out. I must say with OH I have been using F moves with my thumb quite successfully and I've even started doing U moves with my thumb when doing half-rotations to free up my index and pinkie finger for other moves.

I also need to work on my cross to f2l transitions as I also still pause there, even with 2H which is definitely causing a second or 2 delay.
 
With OH I also struggle with orientation after doing the cross because of all the z, x, and y rotations happening, but I am getting better and not wasting time with carrying on. The look ahead practice I've been putting in on 2H has also been paying off with OH.

Doing the cross on R sounds like a good idea. I think I'll give it a go and see how it works out. I must say with OH I have been using F moves with my thumb quite successfully and I've even started doing U moves with my thumb when doing half-rotations to free up my index and pinkie finger for other moves.

I also need to work on my cross to f2l transitions as I also still pause there, even with 2H which is definitely causing a second or 2 delay.

With EOLine I have the same type of issues. Usually I can get off with one rotation, in my line. (It may be a y2 in my case... but that's not unexpected.)

Also with practice you should be able to do any of the moves, one flick... B is awkward as all getout, it is basically an x rotation+U but possible :) I'll scramble a cube OH time to time, when practicing OH.
 
Almost a week with the GTS2 stickerless and it's hard to put down. 4x4 is getting attention and I'm doing a lot of untimed solves, splitting the remaining time with EO practice on 3x3 so I haven't really sat down with a longer timed session in anger with it yet... but so far I can't really find a flaw. The feel is very similar to the MF3RS to me but without any of the minor catching that keeps the MF3RS a fun cube that I wouldn't use for official attempts. It's not a particularly quiet cube and some people probably won't like the hollow feel but the turning is practically perfect for my turning style at the moment. It has exceeded my expectations.
 
Another thing to keep in mind regarding improving singles vs improving averages is that learning new techniques is much more likely to improve your averages. Since my PB single I've learned full OLL and greatly improved recognition of the more difficult PLLs, which has no effect on a single solve with sune and PLL skip.

Very good point, thanks. But still, if PBs don't go down, averages will eventually stall. That was my point.

I must say I did NOT learn anything new since january, when I finished learning full PLL. I might have learned one or two OLLs (I know 12 of them only) and I try to do the cross on the bottom when it's really easy (maybe 5% of the time), but that's about it for "new" stuff.

I copied my latest Ao1000 (22.50) into excel for some stats.

How do you do that ? What software are you using ?

I remember saying around Christmas that the next milestone would be making sub-20s more frequent than sup-30s. I think I can safely say now that I've achieved that. :) Next step, make those sub-20s more frequent than sup-25s.

Even if it feels like I haven't improved much the past few months, these stats show me that I get sub-20s twice as often as at the start of the year. That's definitely an improvement! Not to mention that Ao1000 also is almost 2 seconds faster than it was at the end of last year.

Your progress is amazing ! All those sub-20's ! I get sub-20's only about 2-3% of the time.

I feel like my average improvement follows yours (a few months behind) though : since Christmas, my own averages went down by about 2.5 seconds (my "best mo10 of the day" went from about 27.5 to about 25 sec). I did my very first sub-25 mo10 mid-febuary and it remained an outlier for more than a month. But now I manage to get a sub-25 mo10 about every other day. (I might make more attempts per day, though)
 
How do you do that ? What software are you using ?
I use csTimer. Just click on Ao1000 and copy paste. It has some export function also, but that did not work for me.



Your progress is amazing ! All those sub-20's ! I get sub-20's only about 2-3% of the time.

I feel like my average improvement follows yours (a few months behind) though : since Christmas, my own averages went down by about 2.5 seconds (my "best mo10 of the day" went from about 27.5 to about 25 sec). I did my very first sub-25 mo10 mid-febuary and it remained an outlier for more than a month. But now I manage to get a sub-25 mo10 about every other day. (I might make more attempts per day, though)
Thanks! I think most of my improvement lately is thanks to getting more comfortable with OLL. And probably thanks to a whole lot of solving, which slowly but surely leads to better look ahead.

But you are still doing cross on top while aiming for sub-25??? :eek: I'd strongly recommend you start doing cross on bottom only. It really isn't that difficult, if you are willing to take a small hit to your times for a while. Probably gets harder to switch the longer you wait, though.
 
Mixed bag of a lot of stuff that has been posted these last days:
- Interesting 7x7 centers video, thanks for sharing. Feliks makes it feel so easy... it's not that way when I'm on my own with a big cube like a 6x6 or 7x7. Sorry that he lost the WR 3x3 Average, by the way. Impressive average by Max Park!
- Nice average @JanW !!! You are really making progress. Well done!
- Interesting stuff about OH. I'm trying to do cross on right when I can't find anything better for the specific case and it is not bad but it's still my worst part of the OH solve by far. I have broken again all my OH PBs. Ao50 is now down to 38.56 and Ao100 down to 39.24. Slight improvement also on Ao5 and 12. Still lots of room for improvement but happy with my Yan3 for OH.
- @pglewis You make my wait for the GTS2 almost unbearable :) It should arrive this week or next latest.
- @teacher77 I agree with @JanW that you should just stop whatever you're doing and start practising cross on bottom exclusively. I would take the opportunity to become full color neutral as well. Full OLL can certainly wait until you can do cross on bottom.
 
@teacher77: It's definitely worth the effort to get used to cross on the bottom. Most tutorials that hammer this point say the main reason is to cut out the time of the cube rotation, but I think that's a much smaller reason than lookahead into F2L. It's very easy to justify (probably rightly) that the time of the rotation isn't a big factor on your times until you're sub 20 or even sub 15. But cross on the bottom means you'll get a good look at more 2nd layer edges that can't hide there. It's surprisingly easy to adapt, I honestly find it trickier if I try to solve cross on the top now.
 
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