2nd Alabama Race

The original plan was to skip the 2nd 225 on Saturday and then fly the 300 mile on Sunday with another club. I only had 13 left, but the 13 I had left were pretty good, in my opinion. They were all pretty consistent and one time. So I wasn't going to fly but instead have a skirmish sprint with a couple other club members for fun. Then that looked like it was falling through so I decided to just rest the birds. Probably not a good idea - but I was also resting myself and saving a lot of gas. Then, on Thursday, they changed the race back to the original schedule. I hadn't trained all week. I knew better. I should've put them all on the B race (which was 165 miles) instead of 225 miles. The weather was not kind to them either. A strong cross wind blew them east and I am, by a good distance, the furthest loft west. I only got back 10 of the 13 I sent. The next day, I got another - in the afternoon! It was a late hatch I sent on the B race. I only lost two - but for some reason, I lost my two best birds - and my personal favorite, 385, a beautiful Black Eagle cock. You can't see it in the picture, but after his moult, and a few hard races, he looked good enough to show. He had really put on some muscle and his feathers and neck were beautiful. I'm still hoping he'll straggle in.

I am considering NOT racing either of the 300's. But if I don't, no amount of road training I can do will get them in shape to compete the ones that do when we make up the 165 mile race that was canceled.