After our first all-night KCBS competition I can safely declare ribs to be the hardest category. It's not because of the complexity of preparing them or defining their flavor profile, it's simply the timing. To get these boys ready for a 12:30 turn-in time I figured I needed to start coals at 5am. So after staying up until 1am to get the pork shoulder on, getting 2 hrs of sleep before checking on the previsouly started brisket and pork shoulders, then getting another hour and a half of sleep before waking up to start the coals for the ribs.... well, I totally didn't have the stamina to stay on top of the smoker with the ribs in it. I went back to sleep at 6:30a, woke up at 8:30a, and the smoker was cranking at 300 degrees, a good 60-80 degrees hotter than I wanted. I then realized the cooler I intended to use as a warming holder still had 30 pounds of ice in it.... excuses, excuses, excuses! The end result was "fall-off-the-bone" overcooked ribs. We placed 39th out of 40 in ribs. After all those rib tests this summer this was such a bummer! But lesson very well learned.... we need to split up duties a bit better for the next comp and have one guy manage 12-5am, and another guy manage 5-10am. Also gotta figure a better way to get six ribs in a box nicely... that loner on the side looks totally weird!