"Work hard enough to make a superhero in your life proud."

When you’re someone who thrives in the face of the unknown, you have two obvious choices: work in the ER or become an extreme athlete. Alex Pavon has chosen both. Alex retired from a professional ski racing career and switched to enduro racing at just 19 years old. Today, you’ll find her competing at many of the Big Mountain Enduros and North American EWS races. And we’re not surprised to find that Alex’s favorite races are blind backcountry enduro stage races like Trans Cascadia and Trans BC, where her taste for the unpredictable becomes a strong asset. To sum up her infatuation with mountain descents, she answers, “It’s always been an effortless kind of feeling, like you’re floating.”

When Alex isn’t training, she is an EMT in the North Arizona University Hospital emergency room. "Being an EMT keeps me grounded," she says. "If you think your life is stressful, go hang out in an emergency room for a day. It's just real life. It's kept everything in perspective for me." As if Alex isn't busy enough working and racing, she also just scored her nursing degree and is running the social media for Juliana Bicycles. Early mornings during the summer, you find Alex on the lake waterskiing with her father, Estaban.

What made you a lifer (was it a moment, a ride, a trip, etc.)?

"I've loved mountain biking from the moment I started, but it was an impromptu bike trip to Moab, Fruita, Grand Junction & Telluride with four of my best friends from the bike shop that really solidified my love for mountain biking. All we did was eat burritos and ride bikes for four days."