Riddle me this.....

[Mike Hughey]

Wow, Bill - you're still a good bit better than me. My best average of 100 is 32.24 and my best average of 10 is 28.61. Obviously I do better with competitions than you, relative to my actual ability. But I doubt you're any more shaky than I am; maybe you just need a cube that doesn't lock up as easily? (You should see me tremble in competition - I look truly awful! I invariably have people coming up and asking me if I'm okay. )

 

[cuBerBruce]

I am 51 (although I may not look that old). I haven't been successful at BLD officially yet, but in both my attempts at Kearny Kardinal 2008, I correctly solved 18 out of 20 cubies. I've also been pretty close some other times. Hopefully next month I will have success. My first successful unofficial BLD solve was over 23 minutes. I'm now around 8-11 minutes, typically.

I did a little bit of 2x2x2 BLD solving back in 1983 or so. My method wasn't very good. I would probably make a couple or so "pre-moves" and then perform a number of swaps with a T-perm-like alg. After my mini-cube broke or came apart, I basically quit doing it. Back then, I thought 3x3x3 BLD was too difficult. I wasn't aware of anyone doing it back then.

 

[pete]

Hi Mike,
I am seriously impaired during competition.
...I get very shaky and the cube locks up constantly.
Bill

But I doubt you're any more shaky than I am;
(You should see me tremble in competition - I look truly awful! I invariably
have people coming up and asking me if I'm okay. )

ok, I've never been to a competition but I get shaky whenever someone else
is timing me, even when my wife starts stopwatch I get all shaky (and not
just hands, the whole body).
even when I just time myself I get the same thing.

I've found though that one shot of Vodka typically fixes all that.

so there you have it guys, if there is one advantage you may have over
teenagers at competition then it's the fact that you are legally old enough
to drink

 

[jonny guitar]

I've found though that one shot of Vodka typically fixes all that.

so there you have it guys, if there is one advantage you may have over
teenagers at competition then it's the fact that you are legally old enough
to drink

Well, a shot before each solve.....would make for a very interesting 20 cube solve average.


Seriously, if you guys have the shakes you should have a beta blocker an hour before...these are used for stage fright and just calm you right down without hampering any motor skills or brain functioning (not noticeable anyway).

 

[Aub227]

Hi All,
I too am up there in age. I'll be 40 this year. It's good to know I'm not the only "old fart"... no offense guys, just an expression. After a 25 year hiatus (picked up the cube in the early eighties too, and just stopped), I saw Macky on youtube and noticed his fingers. I thought it would help with my arthritis, so I picked it up again. It has helped, and now I'm hooked.

I go to a friend's house after work every day for a few beers (maybe more.. hehe), and that's when I usually practice BLD. I find it very relaxing when I have a good buzz, and have around a 60% success rate on blindfold solves.

I went to my first competition at Kearny and was very nervous too. It felt like I was shaky too. it's nerve racking. Averaged around 32-33 secs on 3x3speedcubing ... that's a good 9 seconds slower than my avg when at home (avg around 24 secs).

At the comp, I had to wait around 4+ hours until BLD event, so I decided to hang at the bar and drink with the Scots that were there. I think 8 pints may have been a little too many. All 3 attempts resulted in DNF and totally scrambled cubes. haha. At home I avg around 1:00 - 1:15 minute memorization and 2 minutes execution using Pochmann. I'm in the process of getting used to freestyle edges, cycling stickers.

Jonny_guitar, I started BLD with Pochmann and found it extremely easy to learn and easy to get used. Rarely any delays between setup moves and alg execution now.

Thanks for reading and sorry for being so long winded.

Stefan, Joel, many thanks for your great sites, info, and inspiration. Everyone else too!