This past weekend, the PBR, or Professional Bull Riders, were in Anchorage for the Final Frontier Challenge.

Seventy of the top riders in the world came to Anchorage to face off with the top bulls in the United States.

Professional bull riding is a solo sport, but rarely is the cowboy alone.

Luke Snyder is just one of the few bull riders that doesn't have to have a second job. At the age of 23 Snyder already has made close to $1 million by riding bulls. A good rider makes anywhere from $40,000 to $300,000 a year. However, it's not the money that makes them want to get on an 1,800-pound bull: It's the passion and the thrill of the ride.

Mike White, PBR champion, says, “I got on the first one, and I love it, you know, it was a big adrenaline rush and it's like, when you rode, it's like you just won $1 million, it's just a great feeling.”

The love of bull riding carriers a price. It's an extreme sport. Every year, one or two riders are killed.

Snyder says, "That's just something you've got to take into account."

When it comes to injuries, it’s not a question of if you'll get hurt but when.

Jed Moore, professional bull rider, says, "I've had a few knee injuries, couple torn muscles, couple of stitches here and there.”

Cory Rasch, professional bull rider, says, “I broke four ribs and lacerated my liver, and I was in the ICU for four days, but that probably wasn't the most painful injury."

Snyder says, "The most painful was when I broke my nose, I had to have a few reconstruction surgeries, I pretty much peeled it back over my eye, and that hurt. That'll make your eyes water and everything."

Both the bull and the cowboy are given points. A perfect score for a ride is 100 points. Half come from the bull and the rest from the rider. The better a bull bucks the more points it's awarded, and the rider's points come from how much he can control his own body. After eight seconds, it's over, and the cowboy gets nothing if the bull wins.

Moore says, "If I don't do well, it's nobody's fault but my own. The bull does his job and I’m here to do mine.”

In the end, bull riding is just something these cowboys started doing when they were young and haven't gotten around to quitting just yet.

After all the dust settled, Mike White of De Kalb, Texas, took first place.