You didn't specify the sanctioning body, but since you're in Iowa I'll assume KCBS.
The only time related info you'll find in the rules is that you can't start prepping your meat (except for trimming, which may be done ahead of time) until after meat inspection and that you have to have your meat turned in on time (noon for chicken, 12:30 for ribs, 1:00 for pork and 1:30 for brisket are the standard times). Otherwise, the rules don't care when you do things in between.
As Mike said, most KCBS comps start on Friday and turn in is on Saturday. There are some Saturday-Sunday comps, but everything is just time shifted by one day. Meat inspection is usually done as teams are parked, so you can usually start the prep as soon as you are set up. Everyone has their own timeline that they have developed either through experience, through taking a class, or through doing mock competitions at home for practice (or all three :-D). For me, I don't do anything until about 2:00pm on the first day and have short tasks scattered throughout that afternoon and evening. Things don't start to get really busy until Saturday morning when I wake up, but everyone is different based on their cookers, cook temp, etc.
As far as ribs go, again, it depends on the cooker and the cook temp. In addition, the type of rib (baby back vs. spares) and the size of the racks all come into play. My ribs cook for about 4 1/2 hours. YMMV :-D
Sauce is an interesting discussion. It is entirely optional, and most judges will judge what you put in front of them and score it on it's own merits, but you'll run into judges who let personal preference get in the way of their scoring and they may (and probably will) score down if you don't sauce (at least on chicken, ribs and pork). But, it's really a balancing game between the flavor of the meat, the rub, the smoke and the sauce. The best coring entries will have all of those in the right balance, and not have any one over powering the other.
Did that help at all? :becky:
