Hanging on for dear life

(for those of you who could have SWORN you saw this entry a few days ago -- uh, yeah. I posted it then took it down. heh. Hope it's still entertaining second time through. )

The group with whom I helped plan the Brokie BBQ over Memorial Day finally got out for our 'wrap party' last month. We'd spent so much time planning and working - that we always lamented that we didn't have time to just have fun! So we planned to get back together after everything had settled again. Took 2 months for that to happen, but who's counting?!

My request was that we go to a bar that has a mechanical bull. Why? Because I've never ridden one. Seemed like the right group to go with me too. So after dinner we headed down to the Grizzly Rose, a huge country western dance hall in N. Denver. Just as we arrived and grabbed a table next to the bull ring, a big group of guys showed up - sloshed - who all signed up to ride. That was appropriately amusing... and educational. I saw lots of things not to do. :)

I think it well accepted that bulls are harder to ride than bucking broncos, because bulls do this spinning thing whereas the broncs just buck. I've ridden my share of bucks before, but obviously never a bull. I was curious just how different it was. Eventually the line at the desk was gone and there was nothing to do but get on up there! It was..





Fun! Actually a lot dizzying. I'm sure partly because the controller-guys were taking it easy on the newby so mostly all it was doing was spinning around then switching direction. That switching direction thing was the hard part, obviously. Eventually he got me unseated, but I hung on long enough (to the bull's horn as a matter of fact) that he stopped the bull rather than me falling off.

Several others in our group tried it as well.


Laura - ever so graceful even on a bull!


Lee - having a grand old time!


Afterwards we all piled on and took about a thousand exposures before they got one that was not too blury... Unfortunately by that time some in our group had ceased paying attention to the camera man -- LOL. Oh well, the bull looks good.

Actually, the ones who looked good were the controller guys. When no one was riding they would occasionally take turns putting eachother through their paces. And did they ever have paces. Both were 20's, typically cute, trim cowboys - who'd ridden bulls, or at least mechanical ones, before. As the night went on they got progressively more borred and show-offey, much to our entertainment. The riding without holding on really impressed me. The riding facing backwards holding on to the tail? Well - it was useful for demonstrating some spectacular dismounts!