The second race season of the Fanatik Enduro Team has been a fun and incredibly rewarding experience, watching Eric Olsen develop further as a rider and as a leader, and getting to know our new team-member Andrew Cavaye, who hails from Toowoomba, Australia (where Jared Graves is from) and comes to us after being a privateer on the 2019 EWS circuit. Seeing these two athletes push themselves on and off the track is inspiring, so we stopped to ask them a few questions about themselves, their bikes, and racing in general.

Eric, this year you expressed a keen interest in high-pivot bikes, which is what ultimately led us to working with Forbidden for the team’s race bikes. Can you explain why you gravitated toward that type of design?

So over the previous winter I decided to test as many bikes as I could get my hands on. Through friends, Fanatik's demo fleet (thanks Dan and Rich!) and even tracking down and buying a 2018 Commencal Supreme SX to try long travel high pivot before the Dreadnought was out, I was able to get a better feel for all of the different suspension platforms. Then when I put the bike against the clock the high pivot design was fast as all get-out. At that point I knew we had to reach out to Forbidden and see if we could work with them. I’d definitely like to give a huge shoutout to Dan at Fanatik and Stephane at Forbidden for making it happen! 

Also.... Forbidden bikes are by far the sexiest bikes on the market.

Eric's Druid in the foreground and Andrew's Dreadnought in the background, built up with components from Fox, Race Face, Hayes, OneUp, Schwalbe, and MTX.

Eric: What were your motivations to organize a team instead of just racing solo?

Good question. It's probably because I'm a social person and I enjoy working with people to create something. If you win a race and have nobody to celebrate with, where’s the fun in that? It's really gratifying to see your teammate succeed even if you've had a rough race weekend. 

I'd also say that I have a lot of goals I'm still working towards as a "team manager" and I would really like to offer support to an up-and-coming woman, person of color, and/or a youth racer who is struggling with the cost of racing. I think "pro" teams have a lot of influence and I want to use that influence to help less represented people find a place in to the sport. In turn I believe those people will help grow the sport into something wayyy more fulfilling through their own influences and styles. 

What are your aspirations in enduro racing?

I really enjoy the mental aspect of racing. The focus required in competition is unreal and I don't find that feeling anywhere else. I also really enjoy the travel aspect. Our current goal is to race almost the whole EWS series next season. Racing internationally will be a crazy mental challenge, so I'm excited to start figuring out how to get that focused feeling at the highest level of racing. So, I guess the aspiration is to find that awesome feeling at increasingly high levels of speed and competition.

Eric has the best race face in the game. Pure concentration, always looking way down the trail.

What's your mountain-bike career highlight so far, racing or otherwise?

Oh man; mountain biking creates so many vivid memories that it's hard to choose. The things that pop into my mind recently:

1. Winning my first pro enduro at the first round of the 2021 Cascadia Dirt Cup, at Tiger Mountain, while feeling terrible. Just that feeling of relief that I had somehow done it after two years of trying. 

2. Getting the first descent on a "large" rock slab that I had been scouting for 2+ years (major shout out to Dan Perl and Matt Russel for helping me hike my bike in. Stay tuned for a video of that!)

Eric after finishing the first descent of the aforementioned rock slab.

3. Qualifying for pro slalom finals at Sea Otter and having Greg Minnaar ask me about my self-designed frame that I was racing at the time. Then racing pro XC on the same frame the following morning. I always love the events where I can race like 2, 3, 4 times in one weekend, which is probably why I have ended up focusing on enduro.

What are your favorite race-time snacks?

Ha, a snickers bar and skittles from the gas station!

Chamois or no chamois?

Chamois because it helps me feel protected in the nether regions.

What is your weight and height, and what size Dreadnought/Druid do you run?

6ft 2in, 180lbs, XL Druid, L Dreadnought babyyyy!

Andrew

Andrew, what are your aspirations in enduro racing?

I want to be the best rider I can be and have fun along the way, first and foremost. In terms of racing, I want to establish myself as one of the top Enduro athletes in the USA and get myself to some more Enduro World Series rounds and other big events all over the world! It would be wonderful to not have to work a regular job on top of racing, so riding as a job is for sure a big aspiration of mine.

Andrew at the 2021 NAEC race at Silver Mountain in Idaho, where he took 10th amidst a stacked field. Photo by Gavi Perl.

What's your mtb highlight so far, racing or otherwise?

I would say my time spent as a full privateer living in a van in Europe while racing the EWS in 2019 is a major highlight for me. Even though I was racing with a broken wrist and the results were humbling (best finish was 58th in Zermatt), it was incredible for racing experience and general life experience. It made me hungrier than ever to race my bike all over the world at the highest level and be at the pointy end of the results, while also seeing some cool parts of the world! Prior to that, I'd say standing on the podium with Sam Hill at an EWS Qualifier in Derby, Tasmania and being only 0.2sec off beating him on a stage is a pretty good highlight! 

What are your favorite race-time snacks?

Eric and Andrew sending it off a booter.

I am a big fan of the high calorie/small volume snacks like peanut butter sachet, gels and clif bloks. Sometimes you can squeeze out a gel onto a clif bar for a real kick! I do need some kind of “real” food though so I will often have a bunch of M&M trail mix and dates with me, and I like to “recover” with a greasy burger or something similarly filthy.

Chamois or no chamois?

Chamois! I understand where the no chamois people are coming from, but it's not for me.

What is your weight and height, and what size Dreadnought/Druid do you run?

I'm 6ft, 175lbs and I have a Large Dreadnought, XL Druid Mullet - The Large Dreadnought is roughly the same geometry as the XL Druid.