Eric Olsen: bikepacking, racing enduro and a life on bikes

Photos: Piper Albrecht

Enduro riding and racing has come to engulf mountain biking in terms of bikes, riding style, trail builds and what gets our pulses racing. With the World Series starting 10 years ago, 2023 saw enduro lifted into the World Cup, which could be seen as a final step of success or a backwards step, depending on who you ask. Regardless, it has lifted the presence of enduro racing and is delivering more coverage than in years passed, and we can expect that to only increase.

At its heart, enduro and enduro racing has been called the soul of mountain biking. You go flat out on the descents, often with just one chance to ride or sight the trail beforehand, before climbing to the next stage, with a time limit to make it there. So in a way, it's like any trail ride with a group of friends with the stakes are way higher. At the global level the trail difficulty and setting is truly world class, but the core of enduro is riders spending all day out in the mountains, pushing themselves to their absolute limit on demanding descents, and hauling themselves back up climbs to do it again. For much of the race riders need to be totally self-sufficient, managing their equipment, their nutrition and hydration, and their energy for a big day out. For many riders who have competed at the top tier of enduro, they'll speak about the connection with other riders and how the racing scene is still very tight, with everyone stoked to see each other finding their own success.

While the scene has exploded, with factory riders and setups dominating the space, there is still room for a grassroots and privateer approach. That could be the typical #vanlife method to getting to races in the big leagues in Europe, something Australians and New Zealanders have done for the Downhill World Cup and EWS (Enduro World Series) in previous years. But it has also expanded into some riders bikepacking between events. When the first two rounds of the 2023 Enduro World Cup landed in Tasmania earlier this year, we caught up with two riders who load up their equipment on their enduro bikes and bikepack between the events.

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Both Eric Olsen and Matt Fairbrother opt to go by bike at home and abroad – not just in Tasmania. So we got in touch to find out more about the riders, their passion for mountain biking and travel, and their take on the spirit of enduro. Here's Eric's take.

Meet Eric Olsen

Tasmania was just one stop on Eric's travels at the start of the year, and when I finally got him on a call, he was back home in Bellingham, Washington. It is an incredible part of the world to be a mountain biker, but it's not quite where he grew up – and he wasn't always a mountain biker.

'I grew up in Anacortes in the San Juan islands,' Eric tells me. 'but I came from swimming, which is what I was doing in high school. In general it's a much bigger sport here than mountain biking.'

As any mountain biker would know, swimming, rugby or just about any sport is bigger than mountain biking when you're in high school. But Eric was looking for a change.

'When I was in high school a cross-country mountain bike team started. There was a big push for more high school and middle school mountain biking back then. It started in California and spread out from there. I got into it through the high school team and got hooked on it from there. I did a little bit with Team USA for XC racing nationally, so it never felt scary to ride at a higher level as I started – as it all felt pretty small compared to competitive swimming. Even at an Enduro World Cup it's pretty laid back and fun compared to a swim meet – and that's why I like mountain biking.'

'As a swimmer, you get a sense of how big the sport is and how good you have to be. Mountain biking sure isn't easy, but its a lot more laid back. So right off the the bat I was interested in going to nationals and travelling a bit for racing. Plus, if I was going to quit swimming, I knew my parents would want me to stay focussed on something. So I wanted to apply that fitness and drive to mountain biking.

Like many riders, Eric moved from cross-country to enduro, and having moved to Bellingham by then, he realised he actually lived near some of the best trails around, and really got into it.

Eric's move to mountain biking and high level competition was somewhat fast tracked, in part by his passion for it, but also because that's what he was chasing. Although as he admits, it's not always a clear pathway for someone racing locally, to then chase down world level events. Which is totally different to the background he had in swimming.

'There are so many different steps in swimming that you can take. Local, club, regional, zones, nationals, Olympic trials…. In swimming there is a clear pathway from getting in a pool and learning to swim, all the way to the Olympics. But mountain biking is so young in comparison that parts of the stairway are built, then there's a huge chasm, and then there is the World Cup at the top.'

Enduro joining the World Cup

There have been a number of changes in 2023 as enduro racing joined the UCI World Cup. And Eric sees this is a great move to build the sport – although there has been some impact.

'This year they have focussed so much on building the top steps up – but at the same time they got rid of all the qualifiers! It felt like the EWS from previous years, which was good. The only difference was there was UCI officials with clipboards meddling in things. I'll be interested to see how the European rounds go. They have a vision of whole World Cup weekends with Enduro, Cross-Country, Downhill and marathon all in the one weekend. We didn't really see that with the Australian rounds.'

With changes in qualification, many riders were caught out in the opening rounds, finding out quite late that in the end – they didn't qualify for the Elite World Cup. Eric was one of them, but he didn't let that slow him down.

'I'm not at the top of the field, so I'm more into the experience, and my experience in the qualifier race was the same as if I was in the pro race for the most part. It was super fun, and I knew I wanted to travel. I'd never been to Tasmania and it was great. In that sense, the new series is awesome, they're still going to cool venues. There's no North American rounds this year which is a shame, but I hope with some growing pains the sport takes a step up from the move to the World Cup.'

From Bellingham to the world

As I speak to Eric it's clear his journey in mountain biking is as much about the path he takes as the destination. It's a cliche, sure, but one that rings true.

'It's way more fun if you just enjoy things for what they are – a bike race in a beautiful place where you have never been. The bike touring just adds to that. I find that I'm not worrying about the race when I'm travelling, I'm enjoying where I have travelled to.'

Eric found that riding to events suited him after riding out 120 miles to a downhill race, and having a good result.

'I realised riding to races was super fun, and it was also something that I enjoyed. I really liked long XC rides and it got back to the root of what I enjoyed with mountain biking; being able to explore and see places. And then as a joke, I thought I may actually do better at the races if I ride between them and don't have the time to worry about results. And I think that actually worked in Derby. I had ridden 108 miles in the rain, then 60 miles, then practice, and then the race. And I had my best result coming 3rd. I thought "cool, it did work!"'.

There's certainly an element of distraction working here, but Eric finds it's the wider travel experience that he enjoys the most, before then switching to the race.

'The whole time when you're travelling, you're thinking about other things besides the race. You're enjoying the scenery, or you're just soaked in the rain thinking about nothing more than where you need to get to. Also, it's affordable, it is a cheaper way to do the racing and that is a big aspect.'

That should ring true for a lot of riders. It's so easy to have huge plans and to just get absolutely stumped on how to afford it. The thing is, so much of experience you have is based on how you go about it. It's the essence of being a dirt bag; foregoing luxuries to ride your bike more. And that is something Eric identifies with.

'It all stems from being a dirtbag, and things I was thinking of back in my XC days. There'd be a race in West Virginia and the nearest airport would be Washington DC or something, then it's 300 miles to get to Snowshoe. I wasn't old enough to rent a car and couldn't afford it anyway.' Eric wasn't in a position to do those trips while at school, but now he's able to act out those plans, and put some concepts to work that mean he can ride away from an airport.

Bikepacking on enduro bikes

When you think of a bikepacking trip, typically it will involve hauling a fair bit of stuff to your desired destination. Hardtails and gravel bikes are popular rigs, but it really depends on the riding you're doing. Enduro bikes aren't the most common setup for bikepackers, but that didn't deter Eric when he set out for his first longer trip linking up Enduro World Series races.

'I didn't have a lot of bikepacking experience, but I've done some backpacking. So I wasn't getting too into the gear. I know there is a big gear culture in bikepacking and I didn't allow myself to get too lost in that. I just took my rain coat and puffy jacket. You can't carry too much on a bike anyway, so that narrows you down to just the essentials. You have two shirts, and they have to be comfortable as they're the only ones you've got. But I learned a bit when doing a trip in Europe.'

Roll into 2023, and Eric was planning his visit to Australia and New Zealand, a long trip with some demanding conditions.

'I didn't change too much coming into Tasmania. But I did have a little more room to carry things. I had one more set of clothes this time around, and a few more pairs of socks!

Loading up an enduro bike for bikepacking point-to-point seems carefree, and it is. But a bit of thought is required as well, and this is where Eric has been able to use some ideas he had in the past.

'I always wanted to create something where you could carry your bike case. My original idea was a trailer, where your spare wheel set made up the wheels. That evolved into a lighter and lighter setup to what I have now. It's a big tarp bag that I disassemble my bike into for flights. At the airport I reassemble it and it turns into the front bar roll and I ride away. I didn't design it, but I worked with a Loam Equipment in Bellingham. They're super talented with custom frame bags and all sorts of things. We brainstormed it and they took words from my mouth and made something useful. They did custom frame bags for me last year and this year. I had a seat bag option last year, and this year I use the Aeroe rack. Matt and I both changed to a rack system this year and it's a big upgrade to have extra storage space.'

What would you want to do when racing a World Cup Enduro? Would you want to arrive ahead of time, stay at accommodation close to the venue and have one spare everything on hand? If you're racing at the top level – chances are you'd want this and more. But for Eric, he's happy to just roll with it, meet people and race his bike.

'It's funny showing up and seeing people's reactions. Rolling up to an enduro event having bikepacked and having a smile on your face. That feels really good when there's a bunch of people with Sprinter vans between them and they're still grumpy. It's all about the attitude, if you can keep the positive attitude, then you can do anything.

After speaking to Eric about a whole bunch of stuff, more than can fit here. It's clear he has a good outlook on life, and on mountain biking, and how to get the most out of them both.

'Bikepacking forces you into a more creative attitude, if you can just enjoy that and laugh at the experience as you go, it sets you up well. I don't know how to convince people that it is worth it, but I deeply feel that it is. You can do it how you want, you're only limited by what you can dream up.'

The spirit of enduro is the spirit of mountain biking. It's the jack of all trades, and it's good to avoid being hyper-specific. It's just mountain biking, don't get lost in the details. The whole enduro scene is all just a big family of mountain biking, and I like that about the sport'