I absolutely love Rate.  It's my favorite metric, and it consistently treats me well.  

Cycles is...ok.  I can usually grind my way to non-dubious minimums, but is it one of my weaker metrics.

Well,what is the difference between Cycles minus Rate?  LATENCY!!!!

*******

Lol, I don't mean to say I hate the metric or the puzzle.  Just that I don't feel confident about it.  I feel certain that there is a 10 hiding somewhere in this buddy-dupe strategy, and maybe a different idea involving debonding could unlock 9 by accessing both sides of Berlo faster.  Show me the magic, wizards!