PUEBLO, Colo. – New York City is a far cry from Kyler Oliver’s hometown of Roy, Utah, but that’s exactly where he found himself on New Year’s Eve.

After competing at the PBR Albany in New York’s capital, Oliver, his fiancé Reason, and their daughter Indy drove down to the Big Apple.

Because the next Unleash The Beast event is the Monster Energy Buck Off At the Garden, presented by Ariat, in Madison Square Garden, sure, but also to ring in 2024 amidst the biggest celebration in the country.

The celebration is only beginning for Oliver, who proposed to Reason, his girlfriend of five years, amongst the chaos.

“It just kind of happened,” Oliver said with a laugh. “She teased me all the time about, ‘Where’s the ring at?’ And we’ve got a 5-year-old little girl with us, so obviously, I’m a little late. But I don’t know. It just felt like the right time, and I just kind of went ahead and did it.”

To say spending New Year’s Eve in Times Square was a memorable experience would be an understatement.

“It was wild because there were so many freaking people there,” Oliver said. “And then, luckily, when we made our reservations for our hotel room, it was basically right in Times Square, so they gave us these special passes to be able to walk around in there, and most people couldn’t get in. Cops were holding people back and not letting them through the gates and stuff, so we were able to mosey around without very many people bugging us at all. To get to experience that was pretty neat.”

While most cowboys tend to be fishes out of water in the Big Apple, Oliver enjoys his time there.

Well, except when it’s time to drive.

“I’m more of a rural type of person. I like it out in the countryside, but this place is really cool,” he said. “There’s lots of history here. It’s real old here, and there’s a lot of things to see and do. It’s a little different than most regular cities, so I’ve enjoyed it here. And the entire state of New York, actually, because we drove down from Albany down here, so we got to see a few hours’ worth of countryside, and it was really pretty. It really surprised me how many horse farms we drove past.

“And then we got all the way down here, and I was driving in Times Square, and that was an experience,” he added with a laugh. “I almost got hit by a bus. It was scary.”

Driving a car in midtown Manhattan might be the one thing more dangerous than getting on the back of a 1,500-pound bucking bull.

“Yeah, I’m taking a cab,” Oliver said. “Driving in Manhattan is definitely scary as hell. I almost ran somebody over, and I was trying to pay attention real hard.”

Luckily, Oliver does better when it comes to bull riding in New York City. He won the Buck Off At the Garden in 2022 and is excited to return to a historic venue in which he’s had success.

“It’s always fun to come back to a place where you’ve done well at,” Oliver said. “It gives you a little bit of extra confidence, rather than somewhere where I guess you haven’t won the big check. New York’s just really cool, so I’m excited to be here, that’s for sure. And this is one of the Major events, so that gets you excited just in itself.”

Indeed, the event in New York City marks a return of the PBR Majors, which provide increased money and points available for riders. The event purse is $250,000, with the winner taking home $100,000. As far as points, the event winner earns 150 points towards the Unleash The Beast World Championship standings, as opposed to 100 at a regular three-day UTB event.

Action in New York begins with Round 1 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV.

Because he’s No. 41 in the UTB standings, Oliver is an alternate for New York. He’s competed in just three events so far this season as he’s dealt with a wrist injury, also missing Manchester to be home for Indy’s fifth birthday.

“Definitely need to do better, that’s for sure,” Oliver said. “Being on the bubble makes things hard because you don’t know exactly what’s about to happen and if you’re going to be in New York or Denver or Portland. It kind of depends on how you’re riding. I was hoping to get some points to bump myself up off the bubble but didn’t get that done this past weekend. So I’m hoping here in the next couple of events, I’ll be able to get my head on straight, get things figured out. I thought things were going well after St. Louis. I was riding well. I didn’t quite get a score, but I was real close on both of them to making a good ride, so I thought for sure, the next one I went to, everything would kind of fall back into line. And it didn’t work out for me this time.”

Whether he gets into the draw in New York or not, Oliver is keeping things simple and looking forward to getting the job done at his next opportunity.

“Every time, it’s a new bull riding, so you’ve got to have a short-term memory and just try to go do the same thing every time,” he said. “It’s not rocket science. It’s bull riding. Just hang on and don’t let go for 8 seconds.”

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media