I didn't do as badly as I thought. My first birds got 29, 30 & 31 then I got 38, 42 & 44 and I gave up not knowing how well I was doing. My first 3 birds beat 2/3rds of the pack and the others followed close behind. The hawk activity might've caused my delay - or, I didn't work the break point enough - not sure - but I was really pleased that 11 of the 12 A Race birds basically all came in together! I didn't clock the last 5 (loft manager did) but if they had been clocked electronically, all of my birds would've made the first page. That's pretty good in my book. Plus, I know I wore them out on Wednesday and then hit them with meds Thursday (because they were out so long and looked like they drank from suspicious sources). So I know they weren't 100%. We'll skip this weekends repeat of the 115 mile (
Dove Season Opening Weekend) and I'll get some fat on them (and some road training) before the 165 mile - when they will have 5 new members (the late hatches).
Also, I started the season with
22 young birds and after training out to 64 miles 3 times, I still had all 22! I dropped 1 on that final training drop from 86 miles (375) and then I dropped another on this race (388). Weird thing is - they were both blue checks - not the "colors". (Okay, they were pied).
