Baseball, golf and gymnastics; these were three of the sports that professional bull rider Tanner Byrne, currently ranked No. 21 in Professional Bull Riding’s world standings, made comparisons to when talking about bull riding. If those allusions seem like they couldn’t be farther apart, maybe it’s time you bucked your perceptions of what bull riding is and take a look firsthand when PBR’s Unleash the Beast Tour comes to EagleBank Arena later this month.
“It’s all a misconception that we’re all a bunch of crazy farm guys that go and jump on the backs of bulls. That’s nothing further from the truth,” says Byrne. “We work day in and day out at our sport. … The guys you are going to see at the event in Fairfax have worked their whole lives to get to an event like that.”
Eight seconds might not seem like a long time but being able to stay atop an animal that weighs 1,600 pounds and can cause major injury makes this one of the more dangerous sports around.
“It’s a crazy sport that comes with a lot of crazy emotion but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” Byrne says.
Riders have worked their way up from lower-level tours by developing their core strength, balance and mental game to out maneuver the bull for eight seconds, Byrne explains. Byrne, who is one of the taller riders in the sport at 6-foot 4-inches, even does yoga to help his flexibility.
The Unleash the Beast Tour is the elite level of PBR, featuring the top 35 ranked riders in the world and the best bucking bulls in the country. “It’s the NBA. It’s Major League Baseball. It’s the top of the chain,” explains Mike White, a stock contractor who provides bulls for PBR events. “Once you go, you’ll be hooked.”
PBR attempts to back up Miller’s claim with its high level of production. Up to 300 tons of dirt will be laid across EagleBank Arena’s floor to convert it into a corral, but there is also millions of dollars of lighting, audio and camera equipment to bring a level of flair to the event. “The Unleash the Beast Tour is a fun-packed family entertainment of bull riding and comedy and music,” says Jim White, production manager of the tour. “We’ve got music playing, lights are low, and then we do as much pyro and lighting and video as most rock ’n’ roll in our openings.” White calls it a sensory overload.
Not familiar with bull riding? PBR provides education for the sport to potential fans before and during the events. “Bull Riding 101” materials are available on PBR’s website; announcers, including the popular Flint Rasmussen, explain the different facets of rides, like how the bull and rider are judged and what a left hand and right hand delivery is.
While the PBR tours all over the country and the world, this is the first time that it will come to the Northern Virginia region. So if you ever dreamed of living like a cowboy in the Wild West, you can get a taste of it when the PBR rides into town.
The Unleash the Beast Tour’s U.S. Border Patrol Invitational will take place Sept. 22-23.
