Let’s Ride!
If you’re a rodeo fan, the first thing to catch your eye about Brazilian-born bull rider Silvano Alves is his height. He stands 5 feet, 10 inches, which conventional wisdom would tell you is too tall to be good at riding bucking bulls or broncs. Most rough-stock riders are shorter, compact men with low centers of gravity that give them a balance advantage. But the 33-year-old Alves competes in the Professional Bull Riders circuit, which has been bucking traditional rodeo notions for more than 25 years. The PBR, as it’s known, showcases the best bull riders riding the strongest bulls in rodeo’s most popular event. Alves, a soft-spoken three-time world champion, is among the PBR’s rough-and-tumble elite.
Products of Brazil’s ranching culture, cowboys like Alves have been dominant in American bull riding ever since Adriano Morães won the first-ever PBR world championship
