Rodeo barrels into Cedar Rapids’ Alliant Energy PowerHouse arena this weekend

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Middle age and bull-riding sound mutually exclusive. However, Venn Johns still is aboard the beasts at a point in which his contemporaries have hung up their spurs.

Johns, 50, is well, riding it out at an advanced age on the rodeo circuit. Johns is the oldest rider on the Professional Bull Rider circuit.

“I’m a late bloomer,” Johns said while calling from Evansville, Indiana. “Maybe that’s why I’m still at it. I didn’t start bull riding until I was 25. Most guys aspire to do this when they’re kids. I started late but I'm still doing it. I hold records as in I’m the oldest to qualify for the finals (of PBR tournaments).”

Johns will be one of the focal points of the Bulls, Bands & Barrels event Saturday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.

“You have to come out to believe what we do,” Johns said. “There’s nothing like bull riding”

The reason Johns risks life and limb is a simple one.

“I still do it because it's so much fun,” he said. “Just calling what I do fun is an understatement. I’ve been rodeoing in other countries and at events in front of 20,000 people and it’s just amazing. That goes not just for me but for those who come out to the events. What’s so cool about this for myself and the fans is that I feel like bull riding is the closest you get to being a Roman gladiator.”

Thirty bull riders will battle it out with an array of ornery bulls. Each participant is vying for 8-seconds of glory.

But bull riding is just part of the Bulls, Bands & Barrels event. The show also features barrel racing and bullfighting.

Barrel racing is when a rider and their horse run sharp turns around preset barrels as fast as they can. Bullfighting is when a fighter and a bull go head to head for 90 seconds.

And then there are emerging country music artists at the event.

“It’s a great combination of our sport and music,” Johns said. “There will be a DJ and some really cool recording artists, who are on the rise.”

Treaty Oak Revival and Kolby Cooper will perform. The former combines country and rock. Such tunes as “I’m the Worst” and “In Between” are muscular and catchy. Cooper delivers powerful outlaw country music.

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Johns stresses that the event is not just for those who are rodeo aficionados and country music fans.

“You don't have to be a cowboy or cowgirl to enjoy what we’re doing,” Johns said. “This is fast-paced, high impact entertainment that appeals to everyone. It’s the kind of show in which you can fill your whole seat but you don’t need to since you'll be standing or on the edge of your seat. The reason no one sits down is because we took the best parts of rodeo and are running with it.”

Another reason to experience the show is that you get a bang for your buck.

“Where else do you get two concerts and our sport for the price of the ticket,” Johns said. “You get a lot for your money at Bulls, Bands & Barrels.”

Expect Johns to continue to be the oldest rider on the Professional Bull Rider circuit.

“I don't know anything else but bull riding,” he said. “This has been my life. I love it since it’s different every day and I love the intensity. There really is nothing like this.”

Johns is known as the “Bull Riding Ninja,” in part because the former gymnast and martial arts competitor also has competed in the American Ninja Warrior competitions.

“If you do this as long as I have, you get a nickname,” Johns said. “I just can't say how happy I am to have done what I'm doing for half of my life. I'm just as excited about doing this now as when I started. And now we have an event like Bulls, Bands & Barrels and it's just awesome. It's easy to see why it's so awesome if you come out to see what we do.”