May 4, 2001:
The PBR events have been rolling along and everything’s been going great, but there was good news and bad news for me last weekend at the Bud Light Cup in Nampa, Idaho.
The good news was I won the event and $35,610, including the $10,000 Ford Moment of Truth bonus. Starting this year, Ford puts up $5,000 at every two-day event and if the leader going into the short round goes ahead and wins the average, he gets the bonus. Every time it goes unclaimed, another $5,000 goes into the pot.
I felt like I rode three really good bulls in Nampa. In the first round, I had Big Bend’s El Smacko. He was big and strong, and turned back to the right. I was 89.5 points on him to split second in the round with Gilbert Carrillo.
I won the second round with 90.5 points on Sankey Rodeo’s Dirt Dobber. He was big and strong, too, and threw me a lot of direction changes and belly rolls. I personally thought that was my best ride of the weekend.
My short-round bull, Big Bend’s Psycho, spun to the right really hard. I made a great ride on him for about the first six seconds, then he got me strung out on the end of my arm. When the whistle blew, he slung me out of there.
Then came the bad news. I landed on my hands and left elbow, and the impact with the ground dislocated my left (free arm) shoulder. The same kind of deal happened to me last year at the Bud Light Cup event in Grand Rapids, Mich., this same time of year.
Anyway, as usual, I was really happy to see Tandy (Dr. Tandy Freeman) when I got up. He laid me down on the table in the Justin SportsMedicine Team training room, and got my shoulder back in. I went to Tandy’s clinic in Dallas Monday for X-rays, and luckily there’s no significant damage. So now it’s a matter of rehabing it with my Nippon Kenpo exercises and the stim machine I use to promote circulation and heeling, and taking a couple weeks to heel up.
I’m planning to skip the next two events in Grand Rapids and Calgary (Alberta, (Canada), and to go back to riding in Nashville at the June 8-9 event.
I feel like I’ve been riding good, and I’ve kept my riding percentage up there close to 80 percent. I hate to have to sit out, but I don’t have a choice so I’m not going to whine about it. Whenever you get on this caliber of bulls you can expect to get a bump or bruise here and there.
I’ve really been enjoying it this year — the events and all my friends. The competition is so great at this level that it’s hard not to get excited about it. I’m just trying to get on and ride every bull — that’s the name of the game.
I’m second in the Bud Light Cup points standings right now behind Adriano Moraes. I love riding against guys like Adriano, because it’s great competition for me and great competition for the fans. There’s not a bull in the world I’d bet against him on, and that’s saying a lot.
We branded calves at the ranch this week, and a bunch of my PBR buddies, including Jim Sharp, Cody Lambert, Chad Klein, Ross Coleman, J.W. Hart, K.J. Pletcher, Chris Shivers, Trent Amedee, Cory Rasch and my bronc riding neighbor Tom Reeves, showed up to help out. We branded, ate a big lunch of brisket and beans, then played softball. We had a blast.
I mentioned last time that I was planning on going to the NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway April 1st, and that was really fun, too. I flew from Colorado Springs to Dallas that morning, then flew to the race in a helicopter. What an incredible experience. There were 200,000 people there, and I got to see it all right down in the pit with the crews.
On the second lap there was a big wreck right in front me. Grass was flying everywhere. I think professional racing’s a lot like the PBR. Once people get to see what it’s really like back behind the chutes, they’re hooked. It’s pretty amazing what those guys do, too, and I have a huge new appreciation for it after seeing it for myself like that.
Well, I better get back to my rehab. I’ll let you know how it’s going when I get back to riding in a couple weeks.
Take care,
Ty
