In memoriam: Idaho Mountain Touring employee Kevin Pavlis dies from injuries

At 3 a.m. on June 12, just hours after being hit on his bike, Idaho Mountain Touring employee and bicycle racing enthusiast Kevin Pavlis was taken off life support and pronounced dead. He was 37 and leaves behind a wife, Elise, and a 2½ year-old daughter, Sarma.

SNEWS® just attended the Grassroots Early Show earlier in the week where we saw Pavlis and Idaho Mountain Touring owner Chris Haunold. They drove home from Salt Lake City on Thursday so Pavlis could make a social training ride with members of his Lactic Acid cycling team. 

The group was apparently strung out on the so-called “Hill Road corridor” between Boise and Eagle when Pavlis was hit by a 16-year-old driver. According to news reports from witnesses, Pavlis and another cyclist riding with him were both in the designated bike lane on Hill Road when the teen driver of an SUV tried to make a left turn onto Smith Avenue in front of the cyclists and drove into the path of Pavlis who was leading the two.

Another biker, who happened to be a doctor, was just a few feet behind the duo and managed to avoid the collision. News reports state that a rider performed emergency CPR and other life-saving techniques on Pavlis before paramedics arrived and took Pavlis to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center.

Pavlis was wearing a helmet and the cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma.

“Chris was one of my core staff,” Haunold told us. “He was in his eleventh year. My kids grew up in the store with Kevin, and he grew up himself. When he started here, he was a bit wild, but he had just gotten married a few years ago, started a family, and that was good. It is just so hard to imagine him not here.”

Haunold said that the store was working on a memorial tribute to Pavlis. For those who wish to contact Haunold and send condolences and remembrances, email them to info@idahomountaintouring.com.

–Michael Hodgson

SNEWS® View: We did not know Kevin well, but had meals and laughed with him during line presentations at the recent Grassroots show and during evening events at a number of past shows. As we write this, tears well up, as much for Kevin as for the community and his family that will no longer be able to continue growing up with him. Life is never long enough it seems. And when it ends, there is always more to be done, said and remembered. Very old or too young — it doesn’t matter. Take time this weekend, next week, and every day for the rest of your life, to remember those who have died too soon by honoring their memory simply by living your life to its fullest. Don’t waste a minute. Laugh more. Hug more. Give thanks more. Share your smiles more. Fill your life and those around you with love to overflowing.

–SNEWS Editors