Taylor Knows he Needs to Focus and Be Tougher Mentally in 2020
By: Justin Felisko
CHICAGO – Mason Taylor had stopped by PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert’s ranch a few times last season with two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood, and would always leave Bowie, Texas, feeling reinvigorated and confident in his abilities.
Therefore, it was after the 2019 PBR World Finals that Taylor reached out to Lambert to see if he could spend a few weeks with him to work on his game.
Taylor could have decided to take a vacation and not think much about bull riding until the new season. Instead, he wanted to make sure he did not become complacent with his spurts of success during his rookie year.
Lambert has helped mold a series of riders’ careers, including Lockwood, and Taylor believed he too could benefit, especially mentally, from an extended stay with the PBR co-founder for a few weeks.
“I don’t want to be a Top-15 bull rider,” Taylor said. “I want to be a Top-5 bull rider. I eventually want to win a gold buckle. If you want to be one of the greats, and be the greatest bull rider for that year, you have to sacrifice some things and be willing to go do what is going to make you better, and so far it is paying off.”
Taylor heads into the Chicago Invitational as the No. 4-ranked bull rider in the world following a 4-for-5 start to the 2020 season in New York.
The sophomore rider leads the PBR with two 90-point rides after he rode Marquis Metal Works’ Bill The Butcher for 90 points to win the 15/15 Bucking Battle, and again for 90 points in the championship round.
The 20-year-old finished fourth overall at the season-opening PBR Major event in New York. He is 81.5 points behind world leader Joao Ricardo Vieira.
“We talked about the things that matter, and the things that don’t matter,” Taylor said of his time in Bowie. “Cody said the only thing that does matter is me staying on everything they put me on. When he told me that, he said if you worry about everything else, you are not ever going to be anything.
“He said, ‘You can let your mind get in the way,’ and he said I got some potential, and that if I plan on making anything with it that I need to block out everything else and worry about staying on. Not worry about anything else.”
Lambert walked up to Taylor to congratulate him on his first career 15/15 Bucking Battle victory. He knows Taylor has tremendous upside, but that he needs to up his mental focus to tap into that true potential.
“That is how he rides, right there,” Lambert said. “To bring it out in some of those guys, they have to understand the focus that it takes at this level, because there is more distractions at this level than anywhere else. The bulls are better, too, but it is not just that the bulls are better. There is a lot of things that might make you want to look off and lose your focus. Mason is the kind of kid that is not shy, and he talks a lot, and he has to keep some of that confidence on the inside and not let it all run out of his mouth.”
Taylor has drawn Sitting Bull (14-7, UTB) for Round 1 in Chicago. Sitting Bull is 2-0 against Taylor.
Fans can watch Round 1 on CBS Sports Network (10 p.m. ET) and on RidePass (7:45 p.m. ET).
Taylor finished his rookie season 14th in the world standings and was one of three rookies to win an Unleash The Beast event. He went 27-for-65 (41.54%) and had two Top-5 finishes.
The Maypearl, Texas, native showed flashes of his potential throughout his first season, but even during moments of success he would not be confident in his abilities.
Taylor was approaching the sport too much like a perfectionist. Instead of focusing on making the 8 seconds, he was trying to figure out to do X, Y and Z better.
“I was the biggest critic of myself,” Taylor said. “I would be riding bulls it looked like dead easy, but I would feel like, ‘Man, that wasn’t easy at all. I need to switch this. Do this. I was analyzing stuff when I didn’t need to.”
Taylor and Lambert broke down some videos of his rookie year this offseason, and Taylor quickly learned to not focus on the rides he made.
Rather, focus on the ones he did not finish.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Don’t show me another video of you trying to critique your stuff staying on. If you stay on, you did your job. Great. Don’t break that down, because that is doing nothing but breaking your mind down.’”
Taylor knows he has to be mentally stronger in 2020.
There is no need to vocalize publicly his confidence in his abilities, especially if he is trying to simply convince himself.
It was a daily reminder from Lambert.
“We talked about it every day because when the guys keep it on the inside, on the confidence thing, it is not that they keep it hidden, but when they have it on the inside, it is easier to believe it more,” Lambert said. “It is easier to make it real. I am not a psychologist or anything like that, but people think you have to trick yourself into doing it. I think that exposes that you are not sure you can do it. I think you can make it real when you convince yourself you really can do that.”
Taylor knows he needs to focus on finishing rides this season. To do so, he needs to become tougher. Thirteen of his 38 buckoffs came at either 6 or 7 seconds.
“I rode a lot of bulls last year to 7 and change,” Taylor said. “It cost me a lot of money. (Cody) said, ‘All you have to do is get a little tougher. When you start feeling like you got them, dig down and get a little tougher, get a little deeper, and just keep riding through the whistle and everything.’ He is right. Every time I feel like I got one rode, I have to get a little tougher and start spurring and get a little tougher and get more aggressive and ride.
“It is an aggression thing. Don’t sit down and be like, ‘Ah, I got him.’ If you think that, you are going to get bucked off. When you feel like you are in a good spot, keep digging down. You want him to buck harder and to do something to try to buck you off, so you keep riding him.”
Taylor is thankful for the time spent with Lambert, as well as two-time World Champion Justin McBride, 2002 World Finals event winner J.W. Hart and Ring of Honor inductee Ross Coleman.
The lessons Taylor learned are invaluable, but Taylor knows it is now on him to make sure he puts them to use this season.
“Lambert saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. Not yet at least,” Taylor said. “Him taking the time to talk to me, watch videos, and McBride, J.W. and Ross Coleman. They all come over and hang out and stuff. Them taking the time to talk, hang out and drink coffee, it just meant the world to me to look across the table and see all my heroes telling me how to do what I love.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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