There will be three Touring Pro events each night over a four-day stretch in seven different cities from Park Rapids, Minn., to Rock Springs, Texas, and Tidioute, Pa., to West Jordan, Utah.
Historically, this particular run of events is commonly referred to as Cowboy Christmas, and this year, with Fourth of July falling on a Monday, the next weekend is almost as busy with Touring Pro events in four cities, as well as the PBR Australian Finals and the start of the Calgary Stampede.
This month also marks that time of year when even the top-ranked riders from the BFTS travel less by plane, often opting to partner up and drive for as many as 14 or more hours from one event to another.
"You have to find guys who think about bull riding the way you think about it," Skeeter Kingsolver explained. "Guys are different, but you have to have the same outlook on bull riding. You just have to."
When Kingsolver speaks of having the same outlook, he's talking about how a rider prepares himself to compete on any given day.
"If we're not talking about the bull riding from the night before, we're talking about bulls we've been on before," Kingsolver said. "Bull riding is a lifestyle, and it's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning."
When traveling to BFTS events, he typically partners with Austin Meier , Ryan Dirteater and, as of this season, Travis Briscoe .
Kingsolver is also known to travel with Dusty LaBeth .
This weekend, Kingsolver is back on the road with Meier, who said he looks travel partners with the same moral values and priorities as him. Meier also said it's important for him to travel with fellow riders who maintain "a will to win."
Meier said there's often a lot of conversation between travel partners going to and from the events, so like Kingsolver, he agrees that it helps to have the same views and philosophies when it comes to bull riding.
He took it one step further and added that if two travel partners have wildly different styles, it's hard to offer up advice if one or the other happens to be struggling.
"You also have to know their mental attitude on when to say things and when not to say things," Meier said, "just let some things blow over."
Kingsolver agreed, adding that it's important to avoid personality clashes. "You definitely don't want that," he said, "or you'll have some knockout, drag outs in the car."
Meier said as he's gotten older, he's learned how to better handle changes among who he's traveling with at any given time.
For instance, looking back, he admitted that Dirteater's first major injury had an impact on his own season as well.
"I made that mistake a couple years ago when Dirt got hurt real bad, and then I was all by myself again," Meier explained. "He and I fed off of one another with our confidence that without that counterpart in the competition, it just kind of leaves you hanging. As you mature, you learn to handle those things where it doesn't bother you."
It was tough lesson.
Whether it's in relation to leaving their family at home or the friendships developed among riders, they simply have to compartmentalize their emotions.
Success doesn't come without paying a price, and in order to succeed, riders have to be focused on the present task at hand. It's been that way for years and no group of travel partners is exempt.
Just this year, Kody Lostroh and Dustin Elliott had to focus on the BFTS even though their longtime travel partner, Josh Koschel , was cut from the tour and has yet to ride his way back. In the meantime, Jordan Hupp has been traveling and rooming with them.
Cody Lambert, Tuff Hedeman, Jim Sharp and Lane Frost famously traveled together. They later added Ty Murray to the fold and, unfortunately, were faced with continuing on after Frost's tragic death in Cheyenne, Wyo.
More recently, Ross Coleman and Justin McBride came up traveling together and soon added Luke Snyder and Brendon Clark to the group. McBride retired after the 2008 season and Coleman has struggled through injuries, while Snyder and Clark continued on.
After Clark and Coleman were cut earlier this year, Snyder joined Colby Yates and Pistol Robinson . Two-time World Champion Chris Shivers , who for years traveled with Mike White , began rooming with them at BFTS events.
Some travel partners can be defined by the friendships that are formed or the era in which they arrived on the scene, but one common thread among all groups is what Kingsolver called, "the love of the sport."
That love, according to Kingsolver and Meier, goes beyond the current competition.
There's a respect for the history of the sport, especially the 20 founders of the PBR who had the vision to establish the foundation for what the PBR is today, as well as the responsibility to make sure they position the sport so that it can be that much better for generations to come.
Of course, it's equally important to have a sense of humor about everything.
"You have to be able to have fun and laugh at things," Meier said, "be a jokester, a little bit."
At the end of the day, Meier said he and his travel partners are more apt to head back to the hotel then for a night on the town.
"I'm content ordering a pizza, or buying it on the way back and ordering a movie," Meier said, "so I guess if you want to room with me, you better like watching movies, because we watch a lot of them."
Kingsolver refers to the time spent watching movies and playing video games as "goofing off," and as one would expect, he concluded, "I love it."
NEWS AND NOTES
A complete list of Touring Pro events for the month of July can be found here .
-by Keith Ryan Cartwright
On the road again
Source: http://www.goteamsgo.com/forum/rodeo/150915-on-the-road-again.html
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