Bull rider Shane Proctor juggles hectic schedule
As many Americans were preparing for a relaxing Fourth of July weekend, Shane Proctor was in the midst of one of the most hectic weekends of his year.
On July 2, he rode in Utah. Then he spent the whole night driving to Greeley, Colorado.
He hit a rodeo there at 1 p.m., drove as fast as he could to the airport, took a private jet to Red Lodge, Montana, then drove straight from the rodeo there to another one in Cody, Wyoming, another hour in the car.
The next day, he rode in St. Paul, Oregon, and Molalla, Oregon.
Over the course of the year, Proctor probably rides more than any other competitor, as he competes in the PBR and PRCA.
He was the only rider to qualify for the PBR World Finals and National Finals Rodeo, which will be in December at the Thomas & Mack Center.
This is the fourth time he’s qualified for both in the same year, the eighth time he’s qualified for the World Finals and fifth time he’s qualified for the NFR.
“When I first started, I went strictly PBR, and then when I was 25, I was watching on TV and I was like, ‘Well, I think I can work at both,’ so I started working at both and making it work,” Proctor said.
That makes for a hectic schedule for the 31-year-old rider from Grand Coulee, Washington.
He estimates that in the past 10 years, only three or four riders have qualified for both in the same year.
But by now, Proctor is an old pro at that. He said he’s been doing it for so long that he has the schedule down to a science.
“It’s a really strenuous schedule to uphold. You have to get on a lot of bulls,” Proctor said. “The biggest part is the traveling, the timing, trying to get big rodeos, working them in (with the) Built Ford Toughs. A lot of those rodeos don’t buck their best bulls on the days that I need to enter, and so I have to go and make the most out of something little.”
Planning his feverish schedule starts with Built Ford Tough events.
“I know the Built Ford Tough schedule, and so I strictly go down and I start crossing off those days,” Proctor said. “That’s my first priority, and then from there, I start working everything in. … Most of the summer I spend driving. In the winter, I spend flying, just because it’s such a hectic schedule.”
Proctor had a two-month break from the Built Ford Tough Series events in the summer, but while most of his competition was off, he was running around the country.
“The two-month break in the summer, I usually rodeo Monday through Thursday,” Proctor said. “I really have to go hard during the summer when the guys up here are on break. I have to go even harder, and I don’t have many chances to miss. Where most guys will go to 120 (PRCA) rodeos, I’ll go to 50 rodeos and try to make it in the same short amount of time. ”
Proctor is 11th in the PBR standings. Entering the World Finals, he had made $203,781.66. He was bucked off Wednesday and Thursday.
He’s 15th in the PRCA bull riding standings, having made $80,300.48 in competition.
Bull riders have to cover their own travel and are not salaried, so a decent amount of that money has gone toward Proctor’s travel expenses. But he looks at it as an investment.
“In Sin City terms, I’m gambling on myself to win. I’m gambling on putting this much money on a plane or this much money in diesel, and I’m gambling on making that much back or more,” Proctor said. “We’re just professional gamblers. We gamble on the way we ride and how much faith we have in ourselves.”
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand