Extreme Sports?

I was talking to a friend the other day, and after briefly discussing what sorts of traits are inherited genetically, we got to talking about extreme sports. It's amazing to me that anyone could learn to drive a dirt-bike off a 30-some foot ramp, jump 15 feet in the air on a half-pipe, or grind rails on a stunt bike. For anyone to learn any skill, some level of trial and error is required. In such extreme sports, however, mistakes can often be incredibly painful. After experiencing pain, most people are either wired to avoid the pain, or they will at least flinch when performing similar actions. Could it be that "extreme" athletes are genetically predisposed not to learn from painful experiences?

Perhaps some level of their "bad-ass" personae can be attributed to that genetic predisposition as well... Momma's spanking just didn't have any effect, haha.