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Sorenson, who now lives in Altoona, has competed in the Lincoln Highway Days rodeo for the past six or seven years and seems to think the hometown advantage works both ways in terms of how well he competes.
"I do pretty well here," said Sorenson. "It gives you a lot more adrenaline...your hoping you don't give up in front of your hometown.
Sorenson himself has never given up on bull riding. Rodeo has always been in the family with Sorenson's mom competing as a team roper. But his brothers were the ones who got him into riding bulls. Sorenson starting riding sheep when he was three and steadily worked his way up to calf, steer, and eventually rode his first bull when he was only 12 years old.
Since riding that first bull Sorenson has not looked back, making bull riding a career by competing in some 14 states and riding anywhere to 140 to 150 bulls indoors and outdoors every year. While Sorenson has seen and done a lot in his bull riding career, he one day would like to compete in the national bull riding finals in Las Vegas.
Currently Sorenson and his traveling partner Matt Boos are battling it out for the first-place bull riding position in the state of Iowa, but he says that despite the high ranking the life of a bull rider is still a rough and expensive proposition.
An entry fee into a bull riding event can cost anywhere from $70 to $250, but just to win a cash prize a rider would usually have to place in the top six in a field of some 45 riders. First-place bull riders usually take home an average cash prize of $1,300, but most of that goes to buying new equipment.
To supplement their winnings most riders carry sponsorships. Sorenson estimates his sponsorship with American Family Insurance saves him some $1,500 a year in equipment. However, most riders end up going home with nothing but bumps and bruises to show for their effort.
Sorenson himself says there is risk in anything you do but that bull riding has "danger it in it every time you do it." Among other things Sorenson has broken his leg, hand, ribs, ankles and collarbone. However, the cowboy way cures most of these ailments. "Cowboys don't like hospitals," said Sorenson. Instead, "cowboys are really stubborn, we get right back on anyway."
Join Sorenson and other bull riders, rodeo participants and rodeo spectators at this year's Lincoln Highway Days Rodeo, starting at 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights.
