“It’s entertainment that’s a lot like a sport, but there’s no plays being called,” Professional bull rider Michael Lane said. “No one knows what’s going to happen, therefore it keeps everyone on the edge of the seat. Even us as contestants, our job can still be very nerve-wracking at times.”
Lane and other professional bull riders return to the Dayton region on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Wright State University Nutter Center as part of the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour’s “Dayton Rumble” show, where over 30 contestants from across the U.S. and Brazil will compete.
Two Ohioans, Beau Caplinger from Hillsboro and Storm Howard from Carey, will compete and they will be going up against Lane, who is from Raleigh, North Carolina and has been a professional bull rider for over a decade, has previously competed in Dayton four times, winning the event in 2018.
The 30-plus contestants will be joined by 40-plus bulls.
“The owners, they invest a lot of money in them, so therefore they take good care of them,” Lane said. An organizer for the event said the bulls stay at local farms or fairgrounds while traveling on tour, and then when they get to the arena, they spend time getting used to their new surroundings.
“They try to keep everything as comfortable as they can,” Lane said. “They want to do all they can to take care of them.”
Lane, even though he said he’s had countless injuries from bull riding, said his passion for the sport has kept him competing in bull riding his entire adult life, starting riding as a kid at the age of four.
“[It’s] a life you don’t want to give up,” Lane said. “I have two kids that have re-found my love for it, and I love sharing this life with them. I’ve never done anything different my entire life.”
In 2023, the Velocity Tour plans to visit more than 25 cities, including the Velocity Tour Finals in Corpus Christi, Texas. Saturday’s event at the Nutter Center is sold out, but they plan on creating additional seating once the arena is constructed inside the Nutter Center. Organizers said a price on those tickets hadn’t been finalized yet, but they expect to cost around $30.
“It is a very family fun show that kids enjoy. Everyone enjoys it,” Lane said.
Lane began his career as a kid riding his siblings’ show sheep, and since then, Lane has become one of the world’s top professional bull riders.
As the winningest bull rider on the Professional Bull Riding’s Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour in 2021, Lane appeared to be poised to be crowned the tour’s year-end champion until he was injured.
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