Ryan, it was a good weekend for you. How did you feel about it?
I didn’t do too bad for the weekend. I wish I could have finished it off. If I would’ve rode two or three more seconds on that last bull I think I would have won this real easy. But I guess you win some, you lose some.
You mean Smack Down.
Yeah, I had that bull last year, I believe, or maybe it was earlier this year. It was in Portland, Oregon and I rode him and I was 89 points on him. I was probably going to be two or three points higher than that tonight. Just made the wrong move at the wrong time
Is there a point where you knew you were in trouble?
Yeah, it happened kind of all of a sudden to be honest with you. I was riding him pretty easy it looked like there for four seconds, five seconds. And then he was kind of backing underneath me and I could never get my feet out in front of me and ride like I’m supposed to. And when I let loose with my feet and everything, it just kind of put all my weight on my upper body and that’s why I came off over his front end.
When you’re on there for eight seconds, do you have time to think?
A lot of people, if you go to a bull riding school anywhere, to be honest with you, everyone’s going to say, you ain’t got time to think, you can’t be thinking when you’re up there. But for some reason I just sit there and watch and go through absolutely every single movement with that bull and think to myself the whole time. Everyone says you can’t think. I’m thinking the whole time. It’s weird to me because they say they don’t. So, some do, some don’t. I’ve only heard a very few people say they can sit there and think what’s going on.
When I’m watching it, there are some rides that seem to go by really fast and some that seem to go by really slowly. Is it the same for you?
Yeah. In the long round it was it was really fast. In the short round time was going really slow because I was just sitting there trying to match every move perfectly. But I knew if I just stubbed my toe a little bit, I knew I’d hit the ground, and I sure as heck did, and it’s kind of hard to accept that now.
You wanted that last one.
Yeah.
One last question, who’s your biggest hero?
I don't know if I have a - [he pauses and then speaks with great certainty] My little brother is my hero. Joseph McConnel.
Why is that?
There’s not a day that goes by that I can sit there and be with him and not be smiling. He’s a huge inspiration to me. We do that for each other. I can’t really explain it. My little brother is everything in my heart to me.
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