At the start of every Built Ford Tough Series, each of 40 professional bull riders feel it’s his year to win a world title.

Ten months later, only one knows what it’s like to accomplish that goal.

On the first night of the 2011 season, the past three World Champions – Guilherme Marchi, Kody Lostroh and the reigning champ Renato Nunes – were asked to explain what it takes to win a gold buckle.

Their answer: Consistency, staying healthy and a little bit of luck.

“For a guy to win a title it takes a lot of a lot of different things,” said Lostroh, who explained that it takes consistency even to have a chance at the title. “Then you get to that point, and staying healthy has to be the other big thing.

“It’s such a mental strain to go through the whole year, and when you get the physical strain of it, a little injury, by the end of the season, can really compound into something big.”

Marchi, who dominated the title race in 2008, agreed, “You need to do everything. You need to be lucky, you need to be (consistent), you need to give it the blood, give it the heart, and ride everything.”

Nunes referred to it as a game.

He explained that throughout the season, the timing of round wins can be the difference between selecting a bull that fits one’s riding style or being left to try to cover an eliminator-type of bull.

“Riding bulls is a game,” said Nunes, who came from behind to win the 2010 World Championship. “You (have) to do good, and you need a little luck, too. That’s the game: Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

Lostroh explained the difference between World Champions and the rest of the Top 40.

“The guys that are here are the best in the world, and that’s why they’re here, and any one of them can have a good weekend or two and win an event,” he said. “But the guy that can go the whole year, that’s kind of a different caliber of a guy.

“Doing it for a year is a lot different than just doing it for one week.”

Although he was hampered by injuries for much of 2010, Lostroh talked about a delayed sense of relief at winning the world title.

“There almost wasn’t a relief, because I had ingrained in my mind, for so long, about staying in that mindset, that when it was finally over it didn’t seem real,” Lostroh explained. “A couple months later when it sunk in that it was finally over, it was like, ‘Wow. That was a long road.’”

For the Top 40, the road to Las Vegas has already begun.

News & Notes

Renato Nunes was all smiles as he arrived at Madison Square Garden for the first event of the 2011 season. As exciting as it had been to visit Brazil for the past 20 days, he was ready to try his hand at becoming the first back-to-back World Champion in PBR history. “I’m going to try hard every time,” he said.

He was confident he’ll be ready. “It’s really hard to (go) back-to-back,” he said, “but I (have) a chance now and I’m going to try hard.

“Nothing is going to change … I’m just going to try and ride better than last year.”

Austin Meier spent his break hunting and celebrating the holidays with his wife, and recently began watching past rides as he prepared for the 2011 BFTS.

Meier said that if he’s contending for World Championship again, he now knows he’s capable of winning.

“There’s a difference in being at the Finals and being at the Finals and contending for a world title,” Meier explained. “You don’t know what that feels like until you’re there, and once you’re there it’ll let you know whether you can handle it or not.

“For me, the biggest question for myself was how I would handle it once I got there. I felt like I would handle it fine going into it, but then when it’s all happening and you’re there in the moment, it proved to me that I could handle it.”

J. B. Mauney, who has placed in the Top 5 of three Touring Pro events coming into the New York, said he feels as healthy as he has in years. In fact, the other day he told someone, “You don’t know how long it’s been since I have not really hurt when I stepped off a bull.”

After coming close to winning the title the past three years, Mauney said that he’s disappointed a lot of people – no one more than himself. He added that he’s going to focus on one bull at a time and try to enjoy each moment throughout the entire year.

“I’m going to not worry about what’s going on around me, and just try to win every single time I get on,” he said.

“I was getting in (those) slumps and fighting my head real bad. … Once I’m done with that bull I need to forget about it and go on to the next bull.”

Adriano Moraes flew back to the United States from Brazil Friday along with Elton Cide, Wesley Lourenço and Paulo Lima.

Moraes, the only three-time World Champion in PBR history, said he and his family recently moved back to Brazil, so that his boys can experience the culture they’re from, and learn to appreciate what they have here in the States.

The current plan is for Moraes to live in Brazil and travel to up to half the BFTS events.

Josh Koschel talked about his recovery after having the shoulder of his riding arm repaired. The Colorado native said he wished he had been able to get on a few more practice bulls – he got on six – but that he was released to ride later than expected.

Koschel said he feels fine while he’s riding, but that if his left elbow gets out away from his body, he doesn’t have any strength. The start of the 2011 season is a mental game for him.

On the recommendation of his travel partner Kody Lostroh, he started reading Mind Gym for some helpful exercises.

Jordan Hupp said it “felt good” to get his year started with a qualified ride Friday night. “You want to start off the year like that,” he added.

He managed to earn the first qualified ride among the Top 40 riders when he covered Little Napolean for 84.5 points in the third out of the first flight.

— by Keith Ryan Cartwright