The Bulletin file photoRussell Cardoza, of Terrebonne, will compete in the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas beginning Thursday.

If you think you have a hectic work schedule, consider the upcoming itinerary of Russell Cardoza.

The team roper and all-around cowboy from Terrebonne plans to compete at the 76th annual Sisters Rodeo on Thursday, then drive to another rodeo in the Bay Area on Friday, then catch a cross-country flight to ride in a rodeo in Florida on Saturday. Then, Cardoza will red-eye it back to Central Oregon for more performances at the Sisters Rodeo on Sunday.

Cardoza, 29, will vie for the all-around title at “The Biggest Little Show in the World” as he expects to compete in team roping, tie-down roping and steer wrestling.

“I’ve always liked that rodeo, and never have won it yet,” Cardoza says of Sisters. “It makes me keep wanting to go back and try to win. They give you a pretty nice buckle if you win it. I’ve always wanted to win it.”

Cardoza and his team roping partner Dustin Bird, of Cut Bank, Montana, won the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo earlier this season, earning nearly $22,000 apiece.

A four-time qualifier of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Cardoza is currently ranked second in the PRCA’s all-around world standings with season earnings of $43,695.

The Central California native placed in two rounds at the 2015 NFR, and he won 10 all-round titles during the 2014 season.

While many of the most decorated cowboys are competing this season in the more streamlined Elite Rodeo Athletes tour — a new, 10-stop circuit that made its debut in Redmond in March — Cardoza has stayed with the PRCA. The choice really was not up to Cardoza, but he says he is happy in the PRCA, where his career earnings exceed $800,000.

(Cowboys competing in the ERA are banned from taking part in PRCA events, per PRCA bylaws.)

“Well, everybody says that I chose the PRCA, but the ERA, they only pick 10 guys (per event),” Cardoza explains. “They didn’t pick me. They only get to go to those 10 rodeos if they’re a stock shareholder (in the ERA) … so not everybody has a chance to go to the ERA.”

Because they are ERA shareholders, several prominent cowboys from Central Oregon will not be taking part in the PRCA’s Sisters rodeo, including four-time PRCA world bareback champion Bobby Mote, of Culver, and reigning PRCA world bareback champion Steven Peebles, of Redmond.

Cardoza says that competing in more rodeos equates to more potential earnings, so staying in the PRCA — despite the sometimes brutal travel schedule — is a positive to him.

“I’d rather go to as many (rodeos) as I can and actually do something instead of just sit around and just go to 10 of them all year long,” Cardoza says. “I’d want to go to all these rodeos that I’ve been going to anyway.”

Growing up in Livermore, California, Cardoza learned to rope when he was just 4. His parents and a grandfather all took part in rodeos, as did much of his extended family in California.

His wife, Sammy Jo Cardoza, is from Terrebonne and he moved there eight years ago after they married. Sammy Jo, part of the regionally renowned Willis rodeo family, is a barrel racer, and the couple often travels to rodeos together — taking their six dogs along — though Sammy Jo is not competing at Sisters this year.

Russell Cardoza plans to enter more tie-down roping performances this season to vie for the all-around title at the NFR in Las Vegas in December.

“I love winnin’ and I love ropin’,” he says. “Now I’ve been roping calves more and I have a chance to win the all-around this year. I like to rope calves. We’ll see. I’ll take it a little more serious and try to win more.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com