Friday night Manlio was in NYC so we grabbed some dinner with him before heading into town. In the cab ride, he mentioned a bar that Dennis had recommend. This bar, he said, had a mechanical bull. That was all he needed to say before Alex and I were requesting the location and directing the cab driver to the lower east side.
Sure enough, as soon as we located Mason Dixon, we found the bull standing tall in the middle of the bar. We watched a few people saddle up to the bull and studied their successes and failures before we gave it a go. Always fierce competitors, Gabe and Carin arrived to join the fun, and soon after the bar was filling up with friends as news spread of Manlio’s visit + the mechanical bull.
Karen v. Bull from Karen Bonna on Vimeo.
First up, me! I’ve always wanted to try riding a mechanical bull, so I was really stoked about this opportunity. It seems I lasted about 1:35 minutes or so before I was thrown down . Sorry the video is so crappy. The bar was dark and sadly our poor little digicam doesn’t shoot dark locations so well.
Alex slays the Bull from Karen Bonna on Vimeo.
Next up, Alex! You might notice he has some tapping action going on in hopes to stay balanced. That worked for about 1:30 minutes before he practically jumped off. You have to be careful when you’re a spectacle wearing sportsman!
Kevin followed and received style points for his belt buckle and perfect riding kicks: Jack Purcells.
But the real bonus goes to Manlio for sing along to “Don’t Stop Believing” while riding the bull.
Country girl Carin stepped up next. Nice form, Carin!
Michael was up next. He was skeptical from the beginning.
And finally Megan, who really slayed.
Once everyone was finished going one on one with the bull, we all accessed our injuries: a few bloody fingers, tired forearms and legs and decided to motivate over to Sing Sing for an activity we were all a bit more comfortable with.
I am still really sore from Friday, though it’s hard to tell if that’s because I became reacquainted with the gym on Friday morning after a month long sabbatical or because I was holding on to the bull for dear life on Friday night.
More photos of the night here.
