We caught up with Andrew Cavaye in Bellingham to chat about mountain biking, racing, and the journey from Australia to the Pacific Northwest. Discover how Andrew's relaxed approach and dedication to mental strength have been key to his recent successes on the trails. Learn about his training regimen, race day rituals, and the advice he offers to aspiring riders aiming for the podium. Whether you're an experienced biker or just getting started, Andrew's insights and experiences will inspire you to embrace the journey and find joy in every ride.
You’ve won 2 out of the 4 races so far and podiumed the others! (aside from North
Slope-sorry about the gnarly crash!) What’s been the key to your consistent success?
Yes, that North Slope crash was a brutal one! The key to success is elusive and
doesn’t always remain the same throughout the seasons. Different things work at
different times and it’s hard to say one thing has been the key for me! This year, I
would say a more relaxed approach to the races has helped me ride more naturally,
which is not easy to do when in a race situation and something I’ve struggled with in
the past. A lot of mental work has gone into being able to be more relaxed even in a
high-pressure situation. I’ve been happy with my riding and focused on simply
enjoying each race, rather than stressing about small details.
Can you describe your training regimen? How does it differ from when you were in
Australia?
I pride myself on my work ethic and my training regime has remained the same for
the last 2-3 years, with some fine tuning here and there as I learn more about myself
and training in general. Throughout the winter, where I do most of my structured
training, I’ll ride 4 times a week (aiming for 8hrs total moving time) and gym twice a
week, with one rest day (rest is important!). I have worked full time my entire racing
career so I’ll ride outside as much as the weather or my work schedule will allow, but
if I’m not able to get outside that day, I spend a lot of time suffering on my Zwift
trainer. The biggest difference over the last year in training is trying to replicate race
runs as I get closer to the season to try and build some intensity and get used to
riding while tired. It used to be a pretty brutal transition going into the first race
without any intensity before.
I ran a similar program in Australia but nowhere near as structured. At the time, I was
working full time, in college full time and racing in both downhill and enduro. I
basically rode as much as I could squeeze into my schedule, which was still most
days (hello no sleep!) but I didn’t have any kind of gym work. Riding was different as
we don’t have big mountains, so tracks are short and not as steep and it’s hard to
build the kind of strength and endurance needed to hold on for a world cup stage!
What is your favorite style of trail? Favorite riding areas?
Fast, natural and rough, with good corners! Good corners not necessarily being a
huge built up berm, just corners you can rip! I prefer trails where there doesn’t feel
like a speed limit, you just choose how fast you want to go by how much you want to
risk it. Really technical and gnarly trails are fun, but I don’t get that much enjoyment
out riding features that feel like I’m risking my life every single time.
I’ve been privileged enough to ride my bike all over the world, and ride many, many
sick trails! It’s hard to pick my favorites, but I’d have to say Schladming in Austria,
Whistler in Canada (for more reasons than just the park) and right here in
Bellingham would be my top 3!
Walk us through your race day routine. Do you have any specific rituals or practices
that help you perform at your best?
I find that no matter how early or prepared I am before a race, I am still scrambling at
the last minute to be ready. Every. Single. Time! So I try to have as much as I can
ready to go the night before a race to limit the amount of messing about in the
morning. The night before I’ll check and clean my bike, make any changes I feel I
need, and set out my riding kit for race day. I’ll also fill up my bottle/pack with water
and get my riding food ready. Basically, get to a point where I just need to wake up,
eat breakfast, grab my gear and bike and go. I’ll get a good breakfast and hydrate as
much as possible. I don’t drink coffee, but I usually have some kind of caffeine drink
to give me a little boost in the morning on a race day. I’ll get changed into my riding
gear, check my tire and suspension pressures and head off!
I used to be a lot more superstitious than I am now. Everything had to be just right,
put my shoes and socks on in a certain order, save some piece of new kit just to race
in, etc. Now, I like being organized and ready just so I don’t feel rushed, but I don’t
stress the small things. I don’t do anything differently to how I would normally get
ready for any other ride. Stressing over what socks you’re wearing is just not
something that matters.
What challenges have you faced in adapting to a new environment and racing
scene? How did you overcome them?
Over the last 1-2 years, I’ve faced huge mental struggles with my performance.
Coming to the US and racing internationally was a lot more pressure and hype than I
grew up experiencing. The mountains are big, the terrain is gnarly, the competition is
deep and it’s generally unfamiliar terrain. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome overall,
but especially initially, it was all new and kind of overwhelming. I placed a lot of
unnecessary pressure on myself to perform, as I’d come all this way, sacrificed a lot
and fell into the trap that most people do where you perceive that everyone is paying
close attention to every mistake or ‘bad’ result. I felt like I had a point to prove,
mainly that I was worthy of racing in the US and that it wasn’t a mistake to come over
Here.
After several seasons racing world cups, I realized my mental game was a huge
limiting factor and perhaps even unhealthy. I hired a sport psychologist to help me on
my journey in and out of racing and I am glad I did! Did this work totally change my
world and make me a superstar overnight? Obviously no. But your brain is a muscle,
and you must exercise it. Mine was neglected. I think this work coupled with a few
unfortunate injuries helped me realize quite a few things about myself and kind of
transformed me into who I am currently – which is absolutely not perfect (it’s
unattainable!) but more content with imperfections.
I would also say that adapting to riding on wet roots was a big adjustment coming
from Australia. Wet roots basically don’t exist down there, and pointing me down a
steep, gnarly, rooty trail in the dead of winter was asking for trouble to begin with.
Learning this side of things has been a challenge but I’m pretty happy to say they
don’t really phase me anymore, even on the wettest of days, I can hang with born
and bred PNW shredders!
How do you mentally prepare for a race? Any tips for staying focused and calm
under pressure?
I would say how I mentally prepare for a race is actually to keep things as normal as
possible. This is way different to how I’ve been operating a few years ago. Like
many, I’d build everything up into some grand event where every little thing matters
and by the time you got to actually race, you were a bit of a nervous wreck. I’d have
to say that having nerves is a good thing, it’s my body’s way of telling my ‘this is
important’. I try to acknowledge them as a simple feeling and not let them affect my
actions (this is the hard part of mental work). So, now I try to honestly keep it pretty
chill until I’m literally 1-2mins from dropping and try not to over-analyze or stress
about things during the lead up.
The biggest mistake I see from particularly younger riders is getting way, way too
wound up or trying to get completely locked in 30+ mins before even lining up for the
race. You only have so much willpower to give in a day, and using it all trying to
maintain this ‘locked in’ state for so long before a race is going to drain you. I almost
guarantee that these riders are completely unfocused as soon as they leave the start
hut, their brain is tired! Also, particularly when you go to bigger races, you’ll see
other races start doing warm-up routines or stretches or just generally messing about
before their race run. I’m telling you, if you don’t normally do these things, don’t start
doing them just because everyone else is. Just do exactly what you would normally
do, even if that’s just sitting there doing nothing.
I would also say that accepting that every single race run is 100% NOT going to be
perfect. Instead of worrying about the mistakes you could make, focus on reassuring
yourself that you have the skills to do whatever you need to do and try to hype
yourself up a little.
How has the mountain biking community in Bellingham supported your journey?
Have you found any local mentors or training partners?
I moved here right before Covid hit, so I would say for the first 2 years it was a pretty
big struggle trying to meet anyone. Once racing started kicking back up, I got some
results and started building connections with Fanatik and some brands (who I’m still
with today!) as well as seeing some familiar faces around, things started to turn
around! Now I can say I have a pretty great community of friends from all over in
Bellingham. It’s a very diverse crowd here and you get to experience all kinds of
flavors of riding, depending who you’re riding with at the time! The opportunities are
endless in both riding, as well as connections with brands and sponsors. There’s so
many connections to the bike industry in this one spot.
To be perfectly honest, breaking into the mountain bike scene in Bellingham is not as
easy as you think. You’d think with so many people participating in the same sport
and such a large trail network, you’d fit right in and find a group in no time! I found
this to not be the case. It’s really hard to break into a new circle for the first time, but
usually once you break this barrier the people are incredibly nice and
Accommodating.
What are your future goals in mountain biking? Are there any specific races or
milestones you’re aiming for?
The goal has always been to ride for a living, even for just a year or two. That is still
the goal, but I think my method of achieving that has changed over time. I chased
this really, really hard the last 5-6 years. Particularly through the last 2-3 years, I
would do every single race that I could physically fit in my schedule. It was
a challenge to see how many races I could do in a year. My work was
accommodating and let me have the time off I needed, but it meant multiple
trips to Europe or other corners of the globe every year on my own dime and when I
wasn’t in Europe, I was jam packed racing throughout the US and Canada. It meant
driving through the night and going straight into practice with no sleep, or driving
home through the night after a huge race and going straight to work with no sleep. It
meant a few major injuries, medical bills, pain, sweat, blood and tears. What I’m
getting at is simply BURNOUT. I still love riding and racing more than ever, but I’m
saving some love of the sport for myself.
I’m more focused on enjoyment than purely results, and funnily enough I think this
translates into results. If there’s a race that I simply do not want to do, I feel would be
too much strain on the body and mind to travel there, put all my money towards,
potentially leave empty handed, I no longer force myself to do it. It’s a lot of risk to go
all out against the clock so often and eventually you’re going to get bit and that
likelihood goes up massively if you’re tired or just not really wanting to be there. I’m
more content just enjoying this beautiful part of the world and saving the racing for
the ones I’m hungry for, which usually translates to better results, more enjoyment
and the cycle continues. So, the goal is still to race the biggest and best events I can
find, experience the world and have fun doing so and whatever happens as a result,
I’ll be good with!
What advice would you give to aspiring mountain bikers who look up to you and want
to achieve similar success?
Enjoy the journey, don’t take it for granted! Work on skills; be really, really, good at
the basics (cornering). Never give up, no matter what! Don’t have any quit.
Ride with someone faster than you.
Do not fear mistakes, learn from them! You learn a thousand times more from losing than you do from winning. If something didn’t go the way you wanted, focus on the new path forward to
correct your mistakes rather than dwelling on the mistake itself.
I’ve seen a lot of aspiring and promising racers traumatize themselves by crashing
and missing out on a big result, I would include myself in this. I did it over
and over again, it sucks and it’s really disheartening at the time. If you crash and despite
the pain of crashing, you feel nothing, something is wrong. That disappointment is
actually a positive, it shows you CARE. My habit led me to be so nervous of making
a mistake that I couldn’t properly ride, causing me to make mistakes. It’s vicious! So, while it's important to limit mistakes, remember that they will happen. When they do, it's best to have a short memory. Move on quickly. I’ve learnt that crashing is not a controllable factor. No one crashes intentionally, you can’t control it and therefore it’s not worth worrying about. Even if it does happen, immediately move on to what you CAN control (smashing the next stage).
Overall… simply have FUN!
We couldn't agree more, Andrew. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us. Andrew is supported by We Are One, Fanatik, Raceface, Hayes, Schwalbe, Smith, Shimano, and Fox. See you at the next race!
Photos by Heather Carter.
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