McIntosh senior Alexis Alden won gold during the BMX Pan American championship games while competing with team USA Cycling held in Chile on April 5.
Alden travels nationally for BMX racing competitions where she has also won ABA futures and class on Mar. 28 and picked up another in Junior UCI with class on Mar. 30. Alden’s journey began riding on her first purple pedal bike decorated with princesses, white tires and pink rims around her neighborhood. Alden’s dad did motocross and with the help of his friend who is a bike shop owner, Alden got her first racing bike.
“When I lived in California, I took it off to the track, and rode it a few times, and they were like no, no, no you can’t ride this, like you need a real race bike. That’s how it started,” Alden said.
Alden started riding in motorcross when she was three years old alongside her brother who already had previous experience with the sport. Alden’s dad often brought Alden and her brother to practice riding around Glen Helen raceway in San Bernardino, California.
“I was three, so I didn’t really do too much, but all I know is I had a lot of fun doing it,” said Alden.
Motor cross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on rough dirt terrain. The sport requires riders to have a lot of control and balance which increases the risk and fear factor of riding. Alden’s dad took her to practice at a little kiddie track so she could ground her bearings in those first few years of riding.
“My brother used to do it so that kind of sparked my confidence because I knew he was gonna be there when I was riding. But honestly it was scary. It’s a motor; you have a lot less control over it,” said Alden.
GETTING STARTED
BMX [Bicycle Motor cross] is a sport consisting of organized bicycle racing on rough dirt tracks. Alden’s first introduction to BMX was at five years old although she remained in and out of the sport, she began riding herself when she was six. Alden spent her time riding bikes with her brother who also trained at camps alongside her.
“When we were younger, we used to ride all the time, like we were just a pair,” Alden said.
Although Alden’s brother no longer rides since attending college, however he is still a leading mentor and coach in Alden’s life.
“He pays attention to other people’s riding. I like to race and ride. But he gets the intricate details like a setup for a jump and stuff like that… I send him all my race videos, sometimes he’ll come out to the track just to help me see what I can improve on. He is definitely like the biggest role model,” Alden said.
Alden’s dream to go pro began at seven years old as she got off her flat pedals and onward to national competitions where she watched big girls ride and learned how to be a better racer from her experiences there. Alden dreamt of owning her very own USA jerseys as a little girl which inspired her to keep pushing forward and achieve the things she wanted.
“I used to see these pros who used to have USA jerseys, like oh my gosh. You’re riding for USA. That’s so awesome. There are two different types of USA jerseys, for racing internationally. There’s the amateur, which only happens every year for World Championships, and then there’s the actual USA jersey that you ride for all of the international UCI elite races, and it’s so cool that I have those Jerseys now,” Alden said.
GROWING AS AN ATHLETE
Every athlete has their moments of struggle with the competitive nature of playing in a sport whether that’s competing solo or as a team. Failure often transitions into personal growing experiences for young athletes that teaches them resilience and adaptability in times that they are not number 1. In 2019 Alden experienced a burn out from winning second best to another player who won frequently.
“There had been one racer who would win everything, and I’d always get second. Obviously it helps with improving. Always getting second when you’re trying your hardest is kind of just, it makes you burned out. I had told my family in 2019 before the grand nationals, I was like, hey if I don’t get NAG one [National age group number One] I was going to quit and try something new. It was like a hard jump because if I didn’t win I would leave like six years of work but I ended up winning so like that’s my sign, this is my path,” Alden said.
After Alden’s experience with frequently placing second her self perseverance got better after almost quitting in 2019. A few years later, in 2023 Alden won National number one for all women in America.
“It is a really hard achievement and that’s probably my best…All year they do BMX nationals and you get points from them. I was leading the leaderboard the whole year and I ended up winning grands which was what led me to having national number one for all women,” Alden said.
Alden’s journey as a BMX racer not only shapes the way she competes as an athlete but has provided an outward perspective on self determination. Failure grows to a means of determination in wanting to be a better athlete.
“I had been so specific with what I was going to do if it didn’t work out, but I’m so glad that in God’s favor look where that has led me to. And I can’t believe that like three years ago, or maybe four, I was freaking out over just getting second when it’s all a part of the plan and it’s all a part of your sport, not everything is going to go so awesome. I think that definitely shaped me to like to use my past races as motivation, Alden said.
PRACTICES
BMX may be a popular sport in California, but in other parts of America it’s less common to see recreational places to train. Every week Alden spends her time preparing for competitions by doing gate practices and race training at Peachtree cities local BMX track and by doing high intensity gym workouts.
“My coach gives me two gym workouts for about two hours. l Just because of balancing school and stuff it’s hard to go to the gym like three or four times a week, on top of working and also riding the track. So I do two gym workouts and I do probably two or three track sessions. They are about one to two hours long, ” Alden said.
Alden has gate practices on Thursdays and Saturdays with the option to practice after school on the track which is open to the public.
“Everything is high intensity, like biometric explosiveness gate power coming out of the gate and box jumps…It depends on the weather too because if it rains they have to close the track, I kind of do it like every other day. I’ll do gym, track, gym, track, sprints, it’s always alternating…Sprints are like actual sprints but on a bike. I just go from dead stop into like sixteen full cranks, full speed, so basically I would just full crank this whole hallway, and I’d do that eight times,” Alden said.
Alden also has to practice other bike maneuvers and control such as double, triple, and quadruple manual where instead of doing a regular wheelie, she does an ongoing on.
“I was at the track yesterday and there has been this one particular skill that I’ve been avoiding but I know I need to do it. In non BMX terms it’s called a trick and I did thirty attempts on it, and only got it clean one time, but I’m going to go back today and work on it again. I have to have a lot of balance. It’s easy once you do it but it’s just like if you don’t practice it, you’re not going to be able to get it,” Alden said.
SPONSORSHIPS
School is still Alden’s main priority through it all.
“Sometimes I’ll miss a gate practice if I have like three tests and I’m missing gate practice this Thursday because I have work, but I have three tests on Friday so it’s going to be hard, but it’ll work out,” Alden said.
Alden’s has personal sponsors, team sponsors, and non name sponsors that help attribute a lot of the financial support in her traveling journeys for competition. The owner of Albes BMX bike shop, based in Michigan, is one of Alden’s team sponsors who has helped pay for Alden’s bikes and extra parts.
“I actually have two bikes. One to spare just in case when I go overseas I can have a backup. Bikes are not cheap. They are really expensive so it’s nice having someone covering that. Honestly it’s the friends and people you meet along the way from past teams, they’re honestly all based on connections. My dad is probably one of my biggest connections with people because he loves talking to people and has a lot of friends,” Alden said.
Alden receives help rather than sponsor ships from the connections she and her dad makes along the way too.
“One of the owners of JNR, I’m not even sponsored by the speed co bike, which is my bike frame and he was just like, hey I’m welcome to help out your daughter whenever. And he just gave me a few frames,” Alden said.
Moving forward, knowing the mechanics of Alden’s bike increasingly becomes more important as more competition and travelling comes her way with graduation on the cusp.
“When I travel I know how to take my bike apart, like when I break it down and then put it back together to an extent. But normally my dad, he has been a mechanic for Yamaha so he loves working on it but I wouldn’t say I’m a mechanic on my own bike. I definitely need to when I start traveling more just because there’s not going to be someone to work on my bike one day. Normally they have mechanics at the tracks which is really helpful,” Alden said.
THE FUTURE
After graduation, Alden has major plans in pursuing the 2028 BMX Olympics which is four years away leaving her the time that she will need to make her preparations for scouting and the commencement of Olympic BMX points.
“Everyone wants to be an Olympian who’s a BMXer so if not 2028 for sure 2032 but after graduation I am going to become a professional BMXer for the USA, and I do plan on going to college preferably somewhere in Florida,” Alden said.
Alden favors herself attending Florida colleges rather than in-state Georgia colleges due to two pro facilities being within an hour and a half distance of each other as well as Florida’s many BMX tracks. Florida colleges would provide Alden with the opportunity to practice close to school while studying her chosen major in chemical engineering.
“If I want to go to UGA or GCSU, tracks are like an hour to two hours away… I couldn’t balance it. That’s too much of a hard balance. But if I go to college in Florida I have two tracks where the college that I want to go to is within thirty minutes,” Alden said.
Although she is undecided, Alden hopes to attend USF for having the resources she needs like the different types of tracks which is beneficial to becoming a really great pro.
ON BEING A ROLE MODEL
Similar to the big girls Alden knew growing up, and the mentors that have helped her along the way such as Alden’s friend Carly Kane and her brother, little girls are now looking up to Alden competing in such a highly male dominated sport like she once looked up to other girls.
“It is extremely heartwarming, I think it’s so sweet. Every time I come out to the track, I always make sure to talk to little girls because it’s definitely like a confidence level and seeing every time I go to practice it’s normally just me that’s the only girl there. There literally are not that many. So it’s nice to have some fellow little friends that are girls and I like helping them around the track,” Alden said.
To the little girls out there who are intimidated of joining male dominated sports, Alden’s message is to “never be afraid to try something you haven’t done before. And always be up for something new. You know it’s going well if it feels uncomfortable because you’re stepping out of your comfort zone by trying,” Alden said.
