PBR Champ Kody Lostroh Will Not Choose A Sissy Bull in NYC This Weekend

The Professional Bull Riders are back in town to bring a little bit of country to New York City with their annual three-day Invitational at Madison Square Garden from January 8-10, part of the yearlong 2010 Built Ford Tough Series. Current PBR World Champion Kody Lostroh and the organization's CEO Randy Bernard sat down with the I-Man, who, as we know, loves him some good ol' fashioned bull riding.

The PBR got its start in 1992 when the top 20 bull riders in the world — people like Ty Murray and Cody Lambert — each put up $1,000 to create an association that would, in the wake of Lane Frost's death in 1989, ensure certain safety and monetary guidelines.

Three of the original founders, Bernard said, "had to borrow the money, they were so broke." Now, PBR riders have 225 events in the U.S., and another 150 in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico, the purses from which total millions of dollars.

Lostroh, a Colorado native, got his start at age 7, when his mom signed him up to ride steers at the fair. "I got on, and got thrown off in a hurry, and loved every second of it," he said. His mom, however, was less thrilled. "She wished she hadn't done it, because she didn't know I'd like it."

The goal for bull riders is not only to stay on for eight seconds, but to do so with finesse, a feat Lostroh said is as mental as it is physical. "It's so mentally challenging, and there's not a whole lot of people that can get by that aspect of it," he said.

But for him, the challenge is the most exciting part. "There is not another feeling like it in the world, getting off of something that you're totally unmatched, and you come out on top," he said. "There's no other feeling like it."

One particular bull of the 120 PBR has in its arsenal still has Lostroh's number, however. "I got a little revenge going on with a bull called Voodoo Child," he said. "I haven't been able to get him rode yet, but I think it's going to happen this weekend."

At some events, the PBR riders draft which bulls they want to ride based on the previous day's score. Were Imus a part of this process, which he thankfully is not, he said, "I would pick a bill who was on Quaaludes." He suspected the riders feel pressure not to pick "the sissy bull."

"The harder the bull bucks, the more points you get," said Lostroh. Most bulls do the same thing nine times out of ten, and the riders know that. "They're creatures of habit."

Though he's last year's champ, this year Lostroh is playing catch up to the 2008 champ, Guilherme Marchi, who has been around forever.

"And he never falls off, ever!" said Lostroh, audibly frustrated. "It's like trying to stop a freight train."

For tickets to the PBR's New York City event this weekend, visit www.PBRNOW.com!

-Julie Kanfer