Russ Sylvester
TVWBB Pro
Started looking at the first half of my 2014 competition schedule and realized that I was starting to say no to more and more of them. The excuses were time, money, distance, bad vibe from previous year(s), heat, cold, just general pain in the backside, etc. I was coming up with all sorts of stupid reasons.
So then I got to thinking that maybe I've just lost the desire to compete. The first few years were exciting and time/money/distance didn't matter. I would gladly sleep in the bed of the truck in a sleeping bag and not mind (too much) dealing with overworked Port-O-Johns. Now it's, 'Damn, I gotta clean that trailer again??'.
Then I got to thinking back to the last couple of weekends working on building my new smokehouse. I was happy and having a great time thinking about all that bacon and jerky I'll get to do, and learning how to do sausage, hams, salami, etc. Basically, the old fire.
So I guess it's when do I throw in the competition towel? Do I just keep the trailer and only do the comps that interest me? Maybe I'm just getting tired of doing the same four meats every time. I mean after prepping hundreds (maybe thousands) of chicken thighs, it just starts to get a little old.
There's still a few comps that I enjoy, but the best part is the friends that I've made over the years and I would sorely miss them. I still would like to go do the Royal (Open) one of these years just so I can say that I did it. Perhaps I should just take a few months off from competing and re-assess later on.
Anyone else come up to this point and felt like a decision might be needed?
Russ
So then I got to thinking that maybe I've just lost the desire to compete. The first few years were exciting and time/money/distance didn't matter. I would gladly sleep in the bed of the truck in a sleeping bag and not mind (too much) dealing with overworked Port-O-Johns. Now it's, 'Damn, I gotta clean that trailer again??'.
Then I got to thinking back to the last couple of weekends working on building my new smokehouse. I was happy and having a great time thinking about all that bacon and jerky I'll get to do, and learning how to do sausage, hams, salami, etc. Basically, the old fire.
So I guess it's when do I throw in the competition towel? Do I just keep the trailer and only do the comps that interest me? Maybe I'm just getting tired of doing the same four meats every time. I mean after prepping hundreds (maybe thousands) of chicken thighs, it just starts to get a little old.
There's still a few comps that I enjoy, but the best part is the friends that I've made over the years and I would sorely miss them. I still would like to go do the Royal (Open) one of these years just so I can say that I did it. Perhaps I should just take a few months off from competing and re-assess later on.
Anyone else come up to this point and felt like a decision might be needed?
Russ