CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Four eggs scrambled with cheese.
Maybe it is once or twice a day, but that has been Shane Proctor’s go-to meal this year as he continues to travel all over the United States to try and qualify for the Built Ford Tough World Finals and the National Finals Rodeo.
Proctor’s travel schedule put his North Carolina homecoming this week on hold until Friday morning.
The Mooresville, North Carolina, resident’s non-stop lifestyle had the 30-year-old driving from Springfield, Missouri, to Texas for two rodeos earlier this week before driving north to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for another rodeo on Thursday night.
Proctor then hopped on a red-eye flight last night that had him in Charlotte around 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The good thing is, Proctor lives only 30 minutes from the Time Warner Cable Arena in downtown Charlotte – the site of this weekend’s Express Employment Professionals Invitational – and will be able to catch a little shuteye before the event.
Proctor has been enjoying a comeback season following two reconstructive shoulder surgeries last year.
“This time last year I was sitting home,” Proctor said. “I got to go as much as I can to make up some lost time. Last year wasn’t any fun sitting there watching all of this great competition.”
Proctor sits 16th in the PBR world standings and is eighth in the PRCA standings.
“I am happy with it,” Proctor added. “I am not quite satisfied yet. Shoot, I am 15th or 16th and I pictured myself being a little bit higher. Considering the way last year worked out, things couldn’t have gone much better. I still have high goals and I keep pushing myself to keep trying to work my way toward it.”
Proctor has not only rebounded from missing basically all of 2014, but he has been able to return to the riding weight he was at when he won the PRCA bull riding championship in 2011.
Proctor was 165 pounds that year.
“I weigh about 162,” he said. “I have been as low as 157 this year. A couple years ago I was as high as 170. Staying down at a lower weight seems to help everything move along. I ride better when I am at a lower weight. I feel sharper. I don’t feel as sluggish. It keeps me feeling good.”
Proctor credits his customized van from his sponsors Lucas Oil and The Tool & Gage House for helping him get to that lower weight and stay in shape as he travels across the country.
Whenever possible, Proctor will drive the van to various events, as he did last weekend to Springfield.
Not only does it help cut down his travel costs, it also allows him to try and maintain his eating habits.
The van has a microwave and hot plate inside, as well as a queen-sized bed and a pull-out couch.
Proctor can always count on having some scrambled eggs – or maybe a bowl of Cheerios – in the van instead of getting caught up eating fast food or bar food late at night.
“It just seems to work for me,” he said. “That is what I eat every day. I drink lots of water and try and say hydrated. I weigh less than I have in years past and it is because of that.
Proctor added that his van has become a second home away from North Carolina.
“It gets it to where I actually don’t like staying in a hotel because I have to pack everything up,” Proctor said. “I know exactly where everything I need is so that when I get to an event it just becomes routine.”
Proctor has nodded his head over 130 times at various PBR and rodeo events in 2015.
Some weeks he is likely to get on more than 10 bulls.
He is 31-for-75 (41.33 percent) in 24 BFTS events.
Proctor is looking to finish in the Top 10 of the world standings for the third time in his career.
“Shoot, I would just really like to push and finish in the Top 10 in the PBR,” he said. “Realistically, the gold buckle is out of the predicament, but I would like to have a good showing at the Finals and win the average and focus on that.”
Proctor faces Ward’s Mr. Mustachio in Round 1 on Friday night.
It will be his fourth consecutive night of bull riding.
“Sometimes I think I just pay more attention to my body than most people,” Proctor said. “I want to get on bulls. That is what it comes down to. If you want to make it to the Finals in either association you have to put it to the grind and keep pushing it.
“There are no excuses. It is up to you.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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