The Race to Sub-2

[Mike Hughey]

I'm getting closer:
(DNF), (1:45.93), 1:58.16, 2:05.49, 1:54.33 = 1:59.33

My first ever sub-2 average of 5, I think!

This fails to win the race on two counts, though:
1. One of the counting solves is over 2 minutes, and
2. It was part of a rolling average; the first two solves were 2:45.25 and 2:02.90.

And yeah, I did try another one after this; it was a 2:13 DNF, so that didn't help with issue #1 either.

For anyone who's interested, my record of attempts so far is here.

 

[byu]

Wow mike, nice job

 

[Gparker]

1:45.25, 1:42.38, (2:01.28), 1:57.20, 1:50.80

Oh snap!

congrats

as for me. im getting closer. and i thought id never make it to sub 2. but now im close to sub 3. i remember i entered this race over like 8 minutes

 

[SimonWestlund]

1:45.25, 1:42.38, (2:01.28), 1:57.20, 1:50.80

Oh snap!

what place were you? 3rd? Good job!

 

[Gparker]

did an average of 5, consistancy 80%

Statistics for 04-16-2009 14:32:18

Cubes Solved: 4/5
Number of Pops: 0
Average: 3:06.28
Standard Deviation: 34.18
Best Time: 2:39.12
Worst Time: 4:04.92
Individual Times:
1. 2:39.12 L' F' D' F2 L2 R B F U2 B2 U B2 F R' B2 F U' F R2 B2 F2 L' B' L' R2
2. 4:04.92 R2 D2 U' L' D2 U' R2 B F2 D' U' R2 B U R2 B2 F2 D' U' F U F' L' B' F
3. DNF L B2 U2 B L R2 D U2 R2 B' F2 D2 U B' F L R B F2 D2 U2 L R2 F' R'
4. 2:50.11 F2 D L' R D U B' L2 R B2 F' L' R2 F D2 L' R' D' U2 B2 D2 F2 D' B F2
5. 2:50.98 U' L R2 B F U2 F' R D' U B F' D U F D' U2 F D' R' U' R' B F2 D2


close to sub 3

 

[SimonWestlund]

did an average of 5, consistancy 80%

Statistics for 04-16-2009 14:32:18

Cubes Solved: 4/5
Number of Pops: 0
Average: 3:06.28
Standard Deviation: 34.18
Best Time: 2:39.12
Worst Time: 4:04.92
Individual Times:
1. 2:39.12 L' F' D' F2 L2 R B F U2 B2 U B2 F R' B2 F U' F R2 B2 F2 L' B' L' R2
2. 4:04.92 R2 D2 U' L' D2 U' R2 B F2 D' U' R2 B U R2 B2 F2 D' U' F U F' L' B' F
3. DNF L B2 U2 B L R2 D U2 R2 B' F2 D2 U B' F L R B F2 D2 U2 L R2 F' R'
4. 2:50.11 F2 D L' R D U B' L2 R B2 F' L' R2 F D2 L' R' D' U2 B2 D2 F2 D' B F2
5. 2:50.98 U' L R2 B F U2 F' R D' U B F' D U F D' U2 F D' R' U' R' B F2 D2


close to sub 3

Nice, I'll try to get one without 2 DNFs too, to see how close we are

I used the same scrambles..

2:38.40
(3:25.27)
2:53.44
2:52.96
(2:36.44)

= 2:48.27

no DNFs

 

[byu]

did an average of 5, consistancy 80%

Statistics for 04-16-2009 14:32:18

Cubes Solved: 4/5
Number of Pops: 0
Average: 3:06.28
Standard Deviation: 34.18
Best Time: 2:39.12
Worst Time: 4:04.92
Individual Times:
1. 2:39.12 L' F' D' F2 L2 R B F U2 B2 U B2 F R' B2 F U' F R2 B2 F2 L' B' L' R2
2. 4:04.92 R2 D2 U' L' D2 U' R2 B F2 D' U' R2 B U R2 B2 F2 D' U' F U F' L' B' F
3. DNF L B2 U2 B L R2 D U2 R2 B' F2 D2 U B' F L R B F2 D2 U2 L R2 F' R'
4. 2:50.11 F2 D L' R D U B' L2 R B2 F' L' R2 F D2 L' R' D' U2 B2 D2 F2 D' B F2
5. 2:50.98 U' L R2 B F U2 F' R D' U B F' D U F D' U2 F D' R' U' R' B F2 D2


close to sub 3

Nice, I'll try to get one without 2 DNFs too, to see how close we are

I used the same scrambles..

2:38.40
(3:25.27)
2:53.44
2:52.96
(2:36.44)

= 2:48.27

no DNFs

Same scrambles

1:32.19
1:25.37
1:47.56
1:29.42
DNF (1:30.27, off by two flipped edges)

I'm not in this race anymore, but I thought I'd post my times for those scrambles anyway.

 

[Mike Hughey]

Okay, so this is a big step back, but it's still fun for me:
(2:36.92), (DNF), 4:59.87, 3:53.87, 3:34.96 = 4:09.57
Edges were still M2; corners were done with commutators (about half were BH algorithms; there are still a lot I don't know).

My slow speeds were due primarily to two things:
1. When I got a BH case I didn't know, I would often spend some time trying to figure out an optimal algorithm for it.
2. My edge memo is just secure enough to work with very quick corner memo and solving. When I'm slow and inefficient and have to think lots about the corners, it takes me a while afterwards to recall the edges. I probably lost a minute per solve on all but the first solve due to this.

I think it should be fairly easy to get down to 2:30 with BH once I have the algorithms all learned. I'm not sure if it will help my overall 3x3x3 speed. But this proves it should be accurate and fast enough for multi, ultimately, which was my real reason for learning it. If I have to use BH for multi and 3OP for single solves, I'll do that, but I'm still hopeful it will help my overall solve speed someday.

 

[Gparker]

okay, i did an average of 5 and it was sub 3!! im considering learning 3OP for corners but im not sure

Statistics for 04-27-2009 21:13:48

Cubes Solved: 5/5
Number of Pops: 0
Average: 2:55.78
Standard Deviation: 41.21
Best Time: 1:54.64
Worst Time: 3:43.17
Individual Times:
1. 3:19.14 F D U' B F2 R D U2 L' B' F' R D2 R2 D2 F2 D2 U2 F' D' U2 F U2 L R'
2. 2:20.05 F' R2 D2 U' R' D2 B2 U2 L D' F L2 R' D2 U2 F D2 U2 F2 L' D' U2 R' D' U'
3. 3:43.17 D L B F D' U' R' D B' F' L2 B D U2 B' F L' R2 B F2 L2 D2 F D2 U'
4. 1:54.64 R D' U L' R B2 L2 R' U' R D L' R' B D2 U F' L R2 B' U B2 R2 D2 B
5. 3:21.92 D' R2 D B2 U B R D2 U' R' B' R' U2 L D U2 B' F2 L' F2 D U' F2 L R


a new pb and it was sub 2! i cant wait to average sub 2 consistantly

who thinks i should switch corner methods for old pochmann to 3OP or TuRBo or something of that sort. i know happa95 won and he uses the same method i do but i stink at corners.

 

[Mike Hughey]

okay, i did an average of 5 and it was sub 3!!
a new pb and it was sub 2! i cant wait to average sub 2 consistantly

Nice job!

who thinks i should switch corner methods for old pochmann to 3OP or TuRBo or something of that sort. i know happa95 won and he uses the same method i do but i stink at corners.

I'd recommend you not switch to 3OP, since you already know Classic Pochmann. That means you're already used to memorizing with stickers instead of pieces. No point in switching from there to 3OP and then back to memorizing stickers someday when you want to switch to BH or freestyle or the like. So I recommend you try Turbo, freestyle, BH, or R2 instead.

3OP is a pretty powerful system to learn when you're starting out, but once you've learned Classic Pochmann, I just don't see any good reason to switch to 3OP.

 

[Gparker]

who thinks i should switch corner methods for old pochmann to 3OP or TuRBo or something of that sort. i know happa95 won and he uses the same method i do but i stink at corners.

I'd recommend you not switch to 3OP, since you already know Classic Pochmann. That means you're already used to memorizing with stickers instead of pieces. No point in switching from there to 3OP and then back to memorizing stickers someday when you want to switch to BH or freestyle or the like. So I recommend you try Turbo, freestyle, BH, or R2 instead.

3OP is a pretty powerful system to learn when you're starting out, but once you've learned Classic Pochmann, I just don't see any good reason to switch to 3OP.

Ok, I'll probably look into Turbo or freestyle. But could you explain what BH is? is it anything like freestyle?

 

[Mike Hughey]

who thinks i should switch corner methods for old pochmann to 3OP or TuRBo or something of that sort. i know happa95 won and he uses the same method i do but i stink at corners.

I'd recommend you not switch to 3OP, since you already know Classic Pochmann. That means you're already used to memorizing with stickers instead of pieces. No point in switching from there to 3OP and then back to memorizing stickers someday when you want to switch to BH or freestyle or the like. So I recommend you try Turbo, freestyle, BH, or R2 instead.

3OP is a pretty powerful system to learn when you're starting out, but once you've learned Classic Pochmann, I just don't see any good reason to switch to 3OP.

Ok, I'll probably look into Turbo or freestyle. But could you explain what BH is? is it anything like freestyle?

Daniel gives an outline of how they work here. It's a lot like freestyle; the main difference is that with BH, you already know exactly which algorithm you'll use for any given pair. It seems overwhelming because there are 378 algorithms to learn (just for the corners), but it's actually very much more manageable than that because you learn how the commutators work and then you can basically see them mirrored, inversed, or rotated around the cube. So there are really lots less than that, when you take that into account. Daniel and Chris describe it as being similar to learning intuitive Fridrich F2L for speedsolving, and I must agree that it is VERY similar. About the same amount of work, and very much the same kind of process.

I just got serious about learning BH a little over a week ago, and already I know just about all of the algorithms. Unfortunately, some of the difficult ones still take me 30 seconds or so to recall, so I don't have them learned well enough yet, but I'm getting there. Another few weeks and I should be up to my former 3OP speed with BH, or maybe better. And it's amazing how few moves it takes me now to solve corners. I really like it!

 

[Gparker]

who thinks i should switch corner methods for old pochmann to 3OP or TuRBo or something of that sort. i know happa95 won and he uses the same method i do but i stink at corners.

I'd recommend you not switch to 3OP, since you already know Classic Pochmann. That means you're already used to memorizing with stickers instead of pieces. No point in switching from there to 3OP and then back to memorizing stickers someday when you want to switch to BH or freestyle or the like. So I recommend you try Turbo, freestyle, BH, or R2 instead.

3OP is a pretty powerful system to learn when you're starting out, but once you've learned Classic Pochmann, I just don't see any good reason to switch to 3OP.

Ok, I'll probably look into Turbo or freestyle. But could you explain what BH is? is it anything like freestyle?

Daniel gives an outline of how they work here. It's a lot like freestyle; the main difference is that with BH, you already know exactly which algorithm you'll use for any given pair. It seems overwhelming because there are 378 algorithms to learn (just for the corners), but it's actually very much more manageable than that because you learn how the commutators work and then you can basically see them mirrored, inversed, or rotated around the cube. So there are really lots less than that, when you take that into account. Daniel and Chris describe it as being similar to learning intuitive Fridrich F2L for speedsolving, and I must agree that it is VERY similar. About the same amount of work, and very much the same kind of process.

I just got serious about learning BH a little over a week ago, and already I know just about all of the algorithms. Unfortunately, some of the difficult ones still take me 30 seconds or so to recall, so I don't have them learned well enough yet, but I'm getting there. Another few weeks and I should be up to my former 3OP speed with BH, or maybe better. And it's amazing how few moves it takes me now to solve corners. I really like it!

thats a very interesting method. and i am sure you will learn them and be used to it very soon .i think im going to try and learn TuRBo. Im not sure if iill like it enough to stick with it. i dont know if you happen to know how to do parity do you? im going to guess its like this:

Ok, you have an odd number of edge swaps on the cube so im going to guess you will have corner parity also. And to solve corner parity you just set the edges and corners up into a PLL and solve it. I use M2, how would you do parity? im going to guess you to U'F2UM2U'F2U and UB and UL will be flipped and you set it up into a PLL from there. Am i right?

 

[Mike Hughey]

Ok, you have an odd number of edge swaps on the cube so im going to guess you will have corner parity also. And to solve corner parity you just set the edges and corners up into a PLL and solve it. I use M2, how would you do parity? im going to guess you to U'F2UM2U'F2U and UB and UL will be flipped and you set it up into a PLL from there. Am i right?

Actually, I prefer T perms and N perms (since it's mostly T perms), so with M2, I do M'F2M'F2 so UB and UF will be swapped. And then I set it up into a PLL from there.

 

[Mike Hughey]

My latest very bad try:
(2:40.96), (DNF), 4:00.50, 4:43.12, 3:48.41 = 4:10.68

Awful times, but the good news is that it was done with full BH corners! I knew every single BH algorithm for all 5 solves. (The first time that's happened for me over this many solves.) The DNF had 3 corners wrong, but I just cycled them the wrong direction as a stupid mistake.

Actually, I tend to solve the corners fairly quickly. Memo is as fast as it was with 3OP or maybe even faster (always less than a minute), but then when I finish doing the corners, I find that I had to think so hard about the corners that I've forgotten my edge memo. Then it takes me a couple of minutes (literally) to remember what the edges are, hence the really bad times.

I still think this will work well once I get used to it.

Edit:
I did a second try right after the first one. I did a little better this time.
2:21.49, 2:20.51, (2:20.32), 3:38.66, (DNF) = 2:46.89

The DNF was 1:57.84, and I just had 2 corners twisted because I memorized the wrong letter. I love the fact that with images, your memory can actually improve as you do more during the same session.

 

[Sa967St]

I almost forgot about this! I'll do an average of 5 now.


EDIT:

2:30.18, 2:13.76, DNF [1:56.20], DNF [2:53.17], 2:01.27

 

[byu]

Nice job Mike! And this is all with full BH corners? You improve fast!

 

[Mike Hughey]

Nice job Mike! And this is all with full BH corners? You improve fast!

Yes, it's with full BH corners, except that on one of that last batch of solves, I couldn't remember one of the commutators. But I went back afterwards and refreshed my memory, so hopefully I won't forget it next time.

I think I got a little unlucky on the first set of five, and lucky on the second set. But I do think I'm improving.

Nice job, Sarah - with just a little more practice you can be the next one!

Attempts with BH corners (note that these are just some of them - I've done more than this; these are just the ones I felt were interesting enough to justify posting):
1. (2:36.92), (DNF), 4:59.87, 3:53.87, 3:34.96 = 4:09.57 My first try with BH corners.
2. (2:05.43), 2:30.35, (DNF), 3:19.29, 3:15.81 = 3:01.82 First 2 with 3OP corners, last 3 with BH.
3. (2:40.96), (DNF), 4:00.50, 4:43.12, 3:48.41 = 4:10.68
4. 2:21.49, 2:20.51, (2:20.32), 3:38.66, (DNF) = 2:46.89
5. (DNF (2:14)), 2:37.37, 2:20.31, (2:03.78), 3:42.43 = 2:53.37 Not as good as the previous one, but this one wasn't nearly as lucky, so it actually felt better.
6. 1:59.25, DNF (2:34), 2:00.36, DNF (2:01.83), DNF (2:59) = DNF The DNFs were close, and I'm definitely getting faster. I think I can tell now that I'm really going to be faster with BH corners.
7. 2:37.44, 3:02.30, DNF, DNF, 2:27.81 = DNF Grr - these were some very tough scrambles, and I had some memory issues.
8. 2:29.31, DNF (1:53), DNF (2:10), 2:30.62, 2:34.00 = DNF Ugh. I feel like I'm good enough to be sub-2 now, but things keep going wrong when I take these averages. Badly.
9. 2:14.14, DNF (2:58), DNF (2:38), 2:38.15, 2:00.34 = DNF Another day, another bad average.
10. 2:03.97, 2:13.84, (1:45.39), (DNF (2:07.44)), 1:58.14 = 2:05.31 Wow! Only a few tenths worse than my best non-BH average! I love when there are no twisted corners or parity with BH corners - it's so easy it feels like cheating.
11. 2:09.61, (1:47.84), 1:52.44, (2:56.54), 1:56.14 = 1:59.40 Hey, a sub-2 average! Still not sub-2 for the contest yet, but I'm almost there now! The fourth one could have been fast too, but I had a memory failure.
12. 2:09.14, 2:32.23, DNF, DNF, 1:50.75 = DNF I'm disappointed, but this is fairly typical for me now. I'm averaging a little over 50% accuracy, which I'm not very happy with, but oh well.
13. 2:08.33, 2:06.92, (1:53.55), 2:33.87, (6:26.20) = 2:16.37 Bleah. I'm having so much trouble having secure enough memory. In this set, I was doing fine until the last one, and I just couldn't remember it. I finally dredged it up by trying all possible letter combinations.
14. 2:00.44, (1:43.48), 1:58.01, (3:17.64), 2:14.78 = 2:04.41 This one started so nice - even though I got the heartbreaking 2:00.44 at first, I thought it was going to be it, because it was going so well. But my memory failed me on the fourth one.

 

[Mike Hughey]

At last I can resurrect this ancient thread to submit my final post here.

(DNF (2:06.00)), 1:43.96, (1:41.09), 1:54.33, 1:52.78 = 1:50.36

Yes!!!! Does this make me fourth place? (Tortoise-style racing on my part, I think.)

The first one had two edges flipped (I still sometimes mess up with parity on the bad edges - it slowed me down a lot, too). I just had a big breakthrough - I discovered I can memorize the edges with images all in one group, where before I would memorize them in two groups. It speeds up solving a lot.

The first three were for this week's competition; the last two were the last two scrambles from the multi for this week's competition, in reverse order.

 

[Micael]

Finally done with this

1:37.17+ (DNF) (1:17.40) 1:44.70 1:45.38 = 1:42.42

The fastest had 3 pieces solved, so lucky.