PUEBLO, Colo. – After attempting to get on some practice bulls last week at Mike White’s Dekalb, Texas, ranch with no success, Markus Mariluch decided to undergo surgery on his torn right biceps this past Tuesday and will be out for the remainder of the 2014 Built Ford Tough Series, as well as the World Finals.
Mariluch had the procedure performed by Dr. Tandy Freeman in Dallas and he is expected to be out for six months. The 13th-ranked rider in the world had originally hoped to try and compete in Allentown, Pennsylvania, next week and at the World Finals. However, his biceps popped again on him when he tried to ride at White’s and Mariluch decided it was best to start the recovery process a month earlier.
“It didn’t feel good at all. It popped and swelled right back up,” Mariluch said. “Tandy said it wasn’t going to feel any better so I decided hell with it, I will get surgery and come back a month sooner.”
The 29-year-old added that just sitting in the bucking chute tying his hand led to his bicep having a “burning” sensation as he tried to grip his rope.
He originally tore his right biceps attempting to ride Jo Jo last month in Round 1 of the PFIWestern.com Invitational in Springfield, Missouri.
It is a tough ending for an otherwise stellar year for the Elko, Nevada, bull rider, who hopes to return to competition sometime in March.
He concludes the 2014 campaign with a career-best 24 rides, five Top-5 and six Top-10 finishes. He also competed in a career-high 21 BFTS events; however, it is the third year in a row he has undergone surgery for an injury.
Mariluch also posted his first career 90-point ride on the BFTS when he covered Jack Daniel’s After Party for 90.25 points in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mariluch added that it is also frustrating because he had really aspired to qualify for the 2015 Calgary Stampede and 2015 THE AMERICAN.
“It just really sucked,” Mariluch added. “I was pretty sure I was going to finish in the Top 10 and get a free ride into THE AMERICAN and Calgary. It’s depressing. It’s real depressing.”
Instead, he will now turn his attention toward returning stronger than ever. Mariluch added that he may even reach out to Robson Palermo, who lives only an hour away from his Daingerfield, Texas, home, in the coming weeks for assistance in his recovery. Palermo has just finished up his own rehab process after undergoing shoulder surgery in April.
“As soon as I can start working out I am going to be hardcore working out and hitting the gym every day and I will come back stronger than ever and be healthy and hopefully have a good year,” Mariluch concluded. “I will be craving it for sitting out that long.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko.
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