Bike Minded People: Chancellor Amos

On a warm Sunday afternoon in Victoria, BC, Chancellor Amos navigates his way over steep rock rolls, drops, and jumps, keeping it rubber side down with a sense of ease. The trails he is riding, Jelly Roll and Lumpy Pants at the Hartland Trail Network on ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱, also known as Mount Work, are the first trails that he ever rode on a mountain bike roughly 11 years ago.

Chancellor is from the Ehattesaht community within the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation but grew up in Campbell River, later moving south to Victoria as an early teen. “Before mountain biking, I was always an athletic person,” said Chancellor. He grew up playing basketball, hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. Bikes, for the most part, were just a means of transportation.

Mountain biking came into Chancellor’s life at a time when it was really needed. He was 25 years old, had recently gone through a divorce, and was attending Camosun College, taking courses in their Indigenous Studies program.

“I learned a lot about myself during that time. I went through a lot of difficult stuff during that period. And it really was guiding me towards something better,” he said.

He shared how the program at Camosun really helped him with his growth and personal healing, particularly referencing a course called Circle Seminar, where they sat in a circle and were provided with a safe space to vent and let whatever was on their minds or their heart out so as not to let it sit inside of them.

Speaking of how this time helped him grow, Chancellor reflected on how “as males and as an Indigenous male, sometimes through certain generations, we've been conditioned to not show those emotions and not to share them,” said Chancellor.

Chancellor’s time in that program led to a desire to be a better role model for future generations, and this is where his journey in youth work started. Chancellor stepped into roles working with youth at the Duncan Friendship Centre and his home community, Ehattesaht.

“I really leaned into working with Indigenous youth, inserting myself as a role model, as a male Indigenous man, just being a healthy role model for these kids,” he said.

As this shift was happening in Chancellor’s life, he saw an old high school friend named Kevin share that he had bought a new mountain bike. Chancellor reached out, acknowledging that he didn’t have a modern mountain bike, and asked if he could join his friend for a ride. He took his old trail bike from the late 90s, which had no suspension, and he went on his first ride down the trails at Hartland.

“That was the hook, line, and sinker. I got the mountain biking bug after my first ride. Even though I didn't have the proper mountain bike, I still had so much fun on this trail, out on the land with my high school friend,” said Chancellor.

Being out on the land with his bike and his childhood friend brought him back in touch with some core memories and reconnected him to his inner child.

“I think as adults, we tend to drift away from nurturing that inner child, which we all still have. It's a very real thing that all of us still have. And I think not just mountain biking, but cycling, in general, brings us back to that inner child because, for the most part, most of us had ridden bikes as kids,” Chancellor reflected.

As Chancellor’s passion for biking grew, it had profound benefits that reached into other aspects of his life and identity as an Indigenous person.

“As much as I love mountain biking to the deepest core of who I am, it's actually the tool or the piece of equipment that brings me regularly out on the land. As an Indigenous person, more specifically a Nuu-Chah-Nulth person, that is where my roots are deeply embedded, even though I might not be on my traditional territory, but that's where the sport itself brought me much closer to my culture,” he said.

As Chancellor navigated the hardships of a divorce, co-parenting, and pursuing a college diploma, mountain biking became a force in his life that kept pushing him forward.

“If I got on my bike and I was out on the land, it brought me that joy. It brought me that happiness. It brought those really good emotions out and made me feel better with whatever life was throwing at me at that time. And so it really helped me grow as an individual, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically,” he said.

During that time of reconnecting with his friend Kevin, his inner child, the land, and his culture, Chancellor’s journey of turning his new passion into his career started. As Chancellor began spending more time on his bike and saw himself progressing, checking off gnarlier and more technical features all over Vancouver Island, he started thinking about how he could shape his life around bikes.

One day, while working at a pizza shop, a customer pulled up with a truck and a bike rack. As Chancellor talked with him, the man introduced himself as Adam Walker, who Chancellor later found out was a mountain bike coach.

Not long after, Chancellor saw that Adam had posted on Instagram advertising a level one course with the Professional Mountain Bike Instructors Association (PMBIA) at Pi’paam, also known as Mount Tzouhalem. He quickly took one of the two open spots and went on to pass the course.

“I always like to say that it's been all downhill from there. I became a coach and got a job with a program through Cycling BC called Hop On. From there, it just had a ripple effect,” he said.

In 2023, Chancellor got a job with a program called Ride and Repair with Go By Bike BC in partnership with the Indigenous Youth Mountain Bike Program. In this role, Chancellor focused on getting as many Indigenous youth out on a bike as possible. His first program with Ride and Repair was with the Duncan Friendship Center and their youth drop-in centre. With this program, Chancellor took youth on weekly group rides and taught them basic bike skills.

“After they did a lot of foundational work, we actually got to take them up to Pi’paam. So these are youths from the Cowichan Nation. They're from those lands, their ancestors lived and hunted on that mountain. For me, that was a really special moment. I was working towards getting these youth out on the land, their traditional lands, their traditional territories, and doing what I could to help them rebuild that connection, rebuild that understanding, sharing their culture, their knowledge, their language, these really important things that we have to pass down to that next generation,” he said.

Reflecting on the outcomes of that program, Chancellor shared that he “really got to build a solid foundation of relationships with the youth by building trust and being consistent with them. Being there every week, the same day, same time, and being that person that they knew that they could rely on that was going to be there, and doing something fun, doing something that got them out, being active. And so that particular moment in time always will hold a special place in my heart.”

While the Ride and Repair partnership between Go By Bike BC and Indigenous Youth Mountain Bike Program was unfortunately discontinued, Chancellor has continued working to establish his place in the mountain biking community.

Today, Chancellor is still working part-time with the Indigenous Youth Mountain Bike Program and has also been focusing on his coaching skills by working part-time with Victoria-based Nolan Riding, coaching people of all ages and backgrounds. Between these two positions, Chancellor still has more time on his hands and is actively seeking new positions to contribute to the mountain bike community.

“I'm truly much happier now as an individual, as Chancellor, as this spiritual being. I still struggle. I still have ups and downs. But at the core, I know that whenever I get to go coaching, that I get to leave some type of positive impact with either an individual or a group. And ultimately, that has been the goal since I've become this person in the mountain bike community,” he said.

While Chancellor does a lot for the mountain bike community without asking anything in return, upon request, he generously shared his perspective on how mountain bikers can support Indigenous communities. Chancellor, as a Nuu-Chah-Nulth person who spends the majority of his time biking on Coast Salish Territory, recognizes that it is not his traditional territory, and there are steps that he takes to show respect for the land as a guest.

“I really honour and respect these lands. And that goes beyond just acknowledging it. And so what I mean by that is, especially being a mountain biker, when I come into these lands, I always do a prayer almost every single time when I come out for a ride. Within that prayer, I acknowledge the land and territory that I'm on. I thank the original stewards of these lands, because in this modern world, enjoying these really amazing trails, we had to be really thankful that these wouldn't exist if they didn't take care of these lands,” he said.

In addition to his practice of prayer, Chancellor does his part to be a good guest in a way that goes beyond just picking up trash.

“That means interacting with knowledge keepers of these land and territories, learning their stories, learning their histories, all these really important things to really honour and respect what their ancestors have done here. Being a good guest is understanding the importance of the history that is embedded in the soil. It's a part of this landscape,” he said.

He recognizes that the work of reconciliation, for lack of a better word, is not easy but nevertheless very important.

“People working towards reconciliation have to be okay with being uncomfortable. We have to remember with a lot of First Nation communities, there's still so much trauma. There are still so many hurtful things that have been done in the past and that are still being felt and will be for many generations to come,” he said.

He emphasized that reconciliation is not a box to be ticked or a one-time action such as taking a course. Instead, the best path forward is found through patiently building relationships with Indigenous communities and taking baby steps to build trust. It is essential for people of settler ancestry to understand that the hundreds of years of abuse and trauma will take time to heal. However, with any broken relationship, consistently showing up as an understanding, caring, respectful presence is most likely to yield positive results in mending that relationship.

Being a good ally also means making space for Indigenous people, like Chancellor, to share their gifts with the world. As more people like Chancellor have space to shine, it empowers other Indigenous people to follow in his footsteps.

“I'm already living my goal. I'm immersed in the mountain bike community. A mentor with Indigenous Youth, mountain bike coach, and ambassador for Cowichan Cycles. So, within all those roles, I insert who I am as a Nuu-Chah-Nulth person. And when I insert myself as a Nuu-Chah-Nulth person, I'm giving voice to all Nuu-Chah-Nulth people. And that's what I want to do. I want to amplify our voice, our presence, not just for us, I'm also widening that scope for all Indigenous communities in BC. It's just about bringing our presence to the forefront of this community,” he said.

Through the amplification of Indigenous voices, Chancellor would love to see more Indigenous people on bikes using the trails in their traditional territories and a greater presence at mountain bike events: “Ultimately, the goal is to have every single mountain bike event that happens in BC start with the local First Nation talking, sharing their story first, sharing the history of that land, sharing the traditional place names of that land, and not having it be a back burner thing.”