Just remember to have FUN. We did our first contest last year, 3 of us and did a practice run the weekend before at my house. We tried to keep things organized and ran it like what we thought a real contest would be like with turn in's a half hour apart, etc...boy were we in for a big surprise. First, we all drank way too much the night of the practice...(our alma mater got beat out in Elite Eight that afternoon, so that set the tone going into the overnight cook
) By the next morning, we were all hung over and our turn in times of 11, 11:30, 12 & 12:30 had slipped back to 1, 1:30, 2 & 2:30... It was pretty much a failure practice run and we were all sitting around at 4pm wondering what we had gotten ourselves into...
The comp rolled around the next weekend and we learned from our mistakes, but had fun...and were lucky enough to get a call with our chicken...6th place out of 83 teams...and a respectable 35th overall... Not bad for our first rodeo. We did two other KCBS contests last year and walked with 1st places with ribs in one and brisket at another...We are now officially hooked.
The moral of the story...no matter how bad you think things are going...stick it out...and make sure you have FUN...That is why we do it...right? Best of luck to you!
