PUEBLO, Colo. (September 22, 2010) - Less than a year after winning a world title, Kody Lostroh is still learning new lessons.
Last week, Lostroh returned to the Built Ford Tough Series after missing six months recovering from surgeries to his left shoulder and elbow.
“I’ve never been out this long in my life,” Lostroh said, “so to kind of come back from that is just a learning process, to learn how to get back in the groove I was in.”
While he’s “still knocking off some rust,” his biggest adjustment is with the schedule of competing from one week to the next.
Lostroh had not competed in a BFTS event since the Glendale, Ariz., event in March.
At that point, he had ridden in nine of the first 12 events. After earning $74,830.65 – enough money to ensure a spot at the PBR World Finals – he finally opted to rest.
“You train yourself to get in the mindset and your body’s ready to go,” he explained. “And you’re doing that week-in and week-out. When you’re doing that all the time, it’s pretty easy to get back in that zone.
“But when you’re off for so long, a guy kind of forgets and has to relearn that, but I know how to do it. I’ll get back in there.”
Before sitting out, he had five Top 10 finishes, including a BFTS win in Anaheim, Calif., and was covering just under 43 percent of his bulls, which is down from his career average of 51 percent.
Although he was 0-for-3 last weekend, the reigning World Champion feels said he’s “looking forward to (this) week.”
“The first few I didn’t [feel comfortable on],” said Lostroh, “and obviously I hadn’t been on bulls of this caliber for a while, so it took a little adjustment. (Sunday) night I felt way more comfortable than I had the previous two nights. I don’t think I rode any longer, but it felt better.
“You can do all the preparation in the world, but when it comes down to it, you just have to dive in and get after it.”
Lostroh drew three consistent bulls that were scored 43 points, 43.5 points and 43 points, respectively. In the opening round, he rode Nitro Circus for 6.6 seconds, and then came down in 3.8 seconds and 3.6 seconds over the course of the next two nights.
“I’m getting over a little of the apprehension, too,” Lostroh admitted. “The shoulder, obviously because I hadn’t been on many bulls, I’d been protecting it for seven months, so it’s just getting back to that point where you’re not thinking about the shoulder and totally committed to what’s going on.
“I feel like I’m back where I need to be. I didn’t get the whistle … they got me on the ground, but I think I’m definitely headed in the right direction—mentally and physically.”
NEWS AND NOTES
PBR Now on RFD-TV: J.W. Hart and his co-host Justin McBride will be back on RFD-TV this Thursday, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. The show is also streamed live at PBR.TV. Fans are encouraged to call 877-731-6733, or send questions by emailing pbrnowshow@pbr.com.
Live Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Charlottesville, Va., including the second of five bonus rounds for the Top 10 riders, by logging on to the Event Center at www.pbr.com/live. The multimedia center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related interviews.
