He finished fourth, and three events later he returned to the tour, this time in Odessa, Texas. It was there he drew two of the toughest, most feared bulls – Hollywood and Panhandle Slim.

“I had never heard of him and I had never seen him,” Cody Lambert admitted. “I was the judge on the back of the chutes and I see this skinny kid up there and he’s so relaxed and he’s so focused. I’m thinking he’s not even smart enough to be scared of this bull.”

And why should he have been?

McBride covered each with respective scores of 93 and 91.5 points and won the first of his record-setting 32 event titles.

“He makes a perfect ride,” recalled Lambert, of McBride’s first out of the event in Round 1. “Then he comes back the next day and he has the same attitude. There’s no doubt in his mind that he’s going to do it, and he’s had that all along.”

In the 10 years since that event in Odessa, Lambert and McBride have formed a long-lasting friendship that goes well beyond the sport of bull riding.

On the eve of McBride’s announcement that he intends to retire from the sport following the final round of the 2008 World Finals, Lambert spoke candidly about the two-time World Champion.

Question: What were your thoughts when you found out this it: Justin is in fact going to retire?

Answer: Justin and I have talked about this a few times, and I knew he wouldn’t be riding bulls when he was an old man. He mentioned it last year and he mentioned it early this year—a couple months ago he told me he had his mind made up, which events he was going to, the Finals and that’s it. My reaction is I love to see guys that are able to do what they want to do and the PBR has made it possible for him to do what he wants to do. … I know we’ll miss him as a role model in the locker room, as a role model in the arena, and someone else will have to really step up to fill his shoes.

Q: You make a great point. You and J.B. (Mauney) have both made a point of mentioning what a presence he had in the locker room. In fact, I thought it was rather telling when J.B. said that when you’re around him you know you can’t get away with being a sissy.

A: That’s true. If you watch Justin in the locker room – we have big, open locker rooms – Justin gets along great with everyone, but he separates himself from 90 percent of the guys in there because he’s focused on putting out a supreme effort. He doesn’t want any part of those excuses why they might not win or why he might not ride a bull. He expects to ride every single one that he gets on and when he doesn’t he knows it’s his fault. He knows he’s responsible for controlling his own destiny.

Q: He carries himself differently.

A: The champions can see that. Like J.B. Mauney, he can see that, but there are 30 other kids in that locker room that think Justin is a good bull rider and he gets the breaks and they don’t. He has a true winner’s mentality. It is something you can develop and it is something you can learn. You have to be so incredibly honest with yourself that a lot of people never go there. It’s just that he’s at a different place than those other guys.

Q: Right, you never hear him talking about winning. He just simply expects to win.

A: He expects it and he holds himself accountable and that’s how the real champs are. They don’t talk about it. It’s just they have an understanding. If they need to be stronger they show up the next week stronger. If they need to lose five pounds the next week they show up and they’ve already lost five pounds. They don’t need any attention over it. They correct anything that’s wrong and move on in a positive direction at all times. Justin’s got interests outside of bull riding and that’s nice to see.

Q: I know the two of you are friends and you talk all the time, but you mentioned the fact that you have spoken with one another on three occasions with regard to his retirement. Is it wrong of me or am I imposing if was to ask what those conversations were about?

A: I won’t get into heavy details, but I will say that he said that’s what his plan was. I didn’t think, well, he’s just talking (smack). I knew he was serious about it. Justin isn’t one of those guys who hates riding bulls. He loves the challenge, but he wants to move on to the next challenge in his life. Bull riding has made it so he can. He can go on and do other things. He does have a great ranch that he doesn’t have to leave, but he does have the music stuff and he’s like a hero to me that – I love this sport so it’s hard for me to explain – but I really look up to guys that don’t become a slave to it, that they don’t look up one day and they can’t do anything else and it’s gone and they’re still trying to ride, and they can’t ride as good as they could at one time and they haven’t ever learned how to do anything else. Time and injuries take their toll and they’ve got to start at the bottom somewhere. Justin’s not that way.

Q: A lot of folks are comparing Justin’s decision to that of Ty Murray.

A: I remember when Ty told me that he was going to retire. Ty didn’t tell me that he thinks he’s going to retire. Ty said, “I think I’m done.” He was just putting it real softly to me because he knew he was done. That was it. I understand those guys knowing what they want to do. … We’ve got Justin McBride and Adriano going out at the same time. That is huge in different ways—in Adriano being the champion of the past and Justin being the champion of the present. That’ll be a huge void. That’s the thing, to me, ah, I always hope that the younger guys would look at Justin in the locker room and see that he’s not looking for some kind of new gimmick on his spurs or his rope. He’s got the same equipment that he came with 10 years ago. There’s nothing except him holding himself accountable. If he’s not successful he knows it was him and if he is successful he knows it was him. There’s just an understanding there—that’s what bull riding is about, you can have all the support from your friends and your family, but when the gate opens you’re totally on your own.

Q: There was a void when the sport lost Larry Mahan, but Ty Murray came along and so too did Adriano and then Justin. Someone else will come along as well.

A: Somebody will come along, but it may take years and years. It may take many years, but somebody will. But the sport will go on and be strong.

Q: Anything else you want to share about Justin McBride?

A: He’s got a great ranch, a great wife and a little girl and I think it’s exciting to me that he can enjoy that. He’s earned everything he’s got. He’s won more money than anybody in bull riding, more money than anybody in any kind of rodeo or anything like that, but none of it was given to him. He earned every dime of it. Everything he’s got came from riding bulls and pretty much came from being in the PBR, but he doesn’t owe the PBR anything. He earned everything he got. He’s great for the PBR and he has been since he got here.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright