Bull Rider Derek Kolbaba Returns to Action in Dominant Fashion

Following nine months of downtime to heal a broken neck, the veteran cowboy has roared back to competition and piled up earnings.

Since returning to PRCA action on June 5, Derek Kolbaba has ridden four of the five bulls he's faced, including picking up two victories. / Gini Roberge/@photography_by_gini_

It is a moment Derek Kolbaba has pictured for nearly nine months. 

The Walla Walla, Wash., native knew the day would come when he would tighten a rope around his hand, settle onto the back of a bull and wait for the chute gate to open. 

But there is a difference between visualizing something and actually doing it. 

“Before I got on that first bull coming back, I don’t know how many mental reps and how many hours I spent in the gym and how many hours of just watching tape that I did. It was just kind of finding that craving again for it. And as anyone in this sport knows, when you’re craving it, you’re wanting to win,” Kolbaba said. “For me, if I was going to come back I wanted to come back and show myself that I made the right decision.”

The return to action has quickly turned into a showcase of why the 28-year-old is regarded as one of the best bull riders in the world. 

Since his first competition on June 5, Kolbaba has ridden four of the five bulls he’s matched up with, including a victory at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in Union, Ore., and another win last weekend at the Crooked River Roundup in Prineville, Ore. In under two weeks, he’s already amassed more than $11,700 in Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association earnings. 

Derek Kolbaba put together a @PendletonWhisky Let 'er Buck Winning Ride, earning 87.5 points on Four Star Rodeo's Tin Horn at the Crooked River Roundup! pic.twitter.com/5x7vOrZ36y

— PRCA ProRodeo (@PRCA_ProRodeo) June 24, 2024

Getting to this triumphant return has been equal parts physical recovery and mental fortitude. 

Last August, Kolbaba was taking part in a Professional Bull Riding event in Nashville when he awkwardly dismounted head first. Doctors diagnosed him with a fractured C7 vertebrae but felt the injury wouldn’t need to be surgically addressed. 

Several weeks later, an X-ray showed the fracture wasn’t healing as they had hoped. It’s not the first time Kolbaba has gone under the knife in relation to a rodeo injury. Throughout his career, he’s come back from a punctured lung, broken leg and broken jaw, just to name a few. 

But this one certainly felt different. 

“When you break your neck, there’s definitely some things that go through your mind and remind you of what is at risk and what’s really at stake in this sport,” Kolbaba said. He had his C6 and C7 fused together in November. “I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little bit of me that had to take some time to really assess what’s important and after a few months of going by, that craving and that feeling in my gut, it was burning pretty hot. I knew that I wasn’t done in the arena yet.”

Slowly but surely, Kolbaba has returned to full strength. He had eyed a comeback in April, but after some workouts at home, opted to let his body continue to heal. 

Doctors told him after the procedure, he’d have full range of motion, which has thankfully been the case. He’s able to do everything he wants with no pain or limitations. 

Which brings him back to the arena and the chase for eight seconds. 

As a member of the Carolina Cowboys, Kolbaba plans to be at all the PBR team events as the season rolls on. Additionally, he will hit as many PRCA events as he can, especially circuit rodeos close to home. 

And if early results are any indication, the bull riding community should be on alert. 

“It’s kind of been a whirlwind few months, but I’m sure happy things are going the way they’re going,” Kolbaba said. “I feel really good and just physically feel 100 percent and best of all mentally I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”