Interview: Creators of the 'Dirt Relations' Film On Where Trailbuilding Meets Community Development

In British Columbia, mountain bikers and Indigenous people have long been two distinct groups. Turns out, both groups celebrate the outdoors in personal and very real ways, and a few mountain bikers envisioned how meaningful it could be to help grow a community around building trails. Dirt Relations is a documentary that shows how mountain biking and trailbuilding can help shape communities, reconcile distinct groups, and heal intergenerational trauma.

The movie premieres tonight, February 23, at the Centennial Theater in North Vancouver. It will also be available to watch online in the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival through March 10 (more information here) and there will be a screening in Squamish March 1.

Dirt Relations tells the story of three men - IYMBP founder Patrick Lucas, co-founder and German immigrant Thomas Schoen, and Simpcw First Nation member Tom Eustache - who form an unlikely yet symbiotic friendship as they figure out how to work together in the dirt to develop trails, community opportunities, and community itself.

The film touches on my favorite thing about the bike world: the way we can learn skills within biking that then translate to how we approach life on a larger scale. Mountain biking is a perfect microcosm for practicing self-confidence, developing creativity, and teaching ourselves just how capable we are. Once we learn those skills in the controlled familiar environment of our sport, we can approach the rest of our lives as more self-assured, much more capable versions of ourselves. Something as simple as teaching kids to dig in the dirt, especially when that dirt happens to be their home that turns into their playground, it can be transformative for each of the individuals and for the community as a whole.

Curious to learn more about the process behind the film, I reached out to the creators with a set of questions.

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How did you start to build trails, and how did the IYMBP form?

Patrick Lucas: The IYMBP started with a simple question: what do you know about mountain biking? In 2012, I was working as a community planner with First Nations around BC and one day, in the middle of a meeting, an elder asked me what I knew about riding. He asked because I always showed up with bike on my car. I had just moved to the Lower Mainland a few years before, got myself a bike and started riding the North Shore. I would go for rides after meetings. The elder told me how the youth in the community were riding their bikes, it was the one thing that got them outside and off the video games. They wanted to build a bike park. Could I help them? Of course, I said yes. The only problem? I didn’t know anything about building bike parks or trails.

I reached out to people in the community and met a gentleman by the name of Doug Detwiller, the creator of the Sprockids Program who built a bike park on the Sunshine Coast and taught thousands of kids to ride. He returned with me to the First Nation community and all the kids and parents came out to build. I knew I was on to something special.

I formed the Indigenous Youth Mountain Bike Program as a non-profit with the goal of getting youth on bikes and outdoors reconnecting to the land.

Eventually, I met Thomas Schoen, a trail builder from Williams Lake who has built some of the most iconic trails in the province. Not long after meeting Thomas, we both met Tom Eustache, a rider, trail builder and member of the Simpcw First Nation.

Together, we spent the next several years travelling around the province and training Indigenous youth to build mountain bike trails in their own community.

Thomas Schoen: IYMBP was born out of a shared passion for both outdoor recreation and reconciliation. It started with the realization that trailbuilding could be a powerful tool for fostering connections and understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. The idea of creating a space where Indigenous youth could engage with mountain biking while also learning about their culture and heritage through trailbuilding was the driving force behind the formation of IYMBP.

How did you decide to create a film about what you’re doing?

Patrick: As our program grew, we started receiving a lot of interest from mountain bike clubs and recreation groups from around BC, across Canada and even from the US and as far away as Australia about our work with Indigenous youth and communities. This interest grew with the release of the Truth and Reconciliation report in 2015 and then later during the Wet’su’weton Strong movement in northern BC. Clubs and trail builders were realizing that engaging with and reconciling our relationship with Indigenous Peoples was critical for the future of our sport and the trails we love to build and ride.

Additionally, our Indigenous friends and mentors were encouraging us to share our stories and the lessons we learned from them. We had a responsibility to foster a dialogue in our community around the issue of reconciliation and building relationships between the outdoor recreation community and First Nations built on trust and mutual respect.

We had the opportunity to work on a number of different film projects including an episode of Season 2 of Return to Earth with Anthill Films for Outside TV, as well as with Stirl & Rae Media Haus on an edit that was released during the global broadcast of Crankworx in 2022 and we realized storytelling and film is a powerful tool for connecting with and inspiring people to take action to foster authentic reconciliation.

Thomas: We wanted to share our story with a wider audience and inspire others to embark on similar initiatives in their communities. A film felt like the perfect medium to capture the essence of our work, showcasing the joy, challenges, and transformative power of trailbuilding and youth engagement.

What changes have you noticed - in yourself or in others - through working with Indigenous youth?

Patrick: We have spent the better part of the last decade since building the first bike park in 2012 working with dozens of First Nations around the province, training youth and adults to build trails and ride. We’ll often spend weeks working with youth each year, returning to communities over many years, watching them grow and develop as trail builders and riders. Being a part of a trail crew, working through the heat, bugs, rain, challenging terrain, to build something for your community, your people, and seeing the enjoyment others gain from using the trail built by your own hand, can have a tremendous impact on youth. It’s there, digging in the dirt together, the trail emerging from the forest floor behind us as we work, that we’ve witnessed the transformative power trailbuilding can have on youth. We’ve had the pleasure of watching kids transform over the period of a trail project into confident, proud, and highly skilled builders. We’ve watched as youth have used the trails to reconnect with the land and their culture and have taken their new confidence and skills out into the world.

Thomas: Working with Indigenous youth has been incredibly rewarding, both personally and professionally. We three, Pat, Tom and Thomas, became close friends. It has opened my eyes to different perspectives, taught me valuable lessons about resilience and cultural heritage, and reinforced the importance of fostering meaningful relationships across cultural divides.

What effects have you seen in yourself and your own life from trailbuilding?

Patrick: Trailbuilding has had a huge impact on my life. In a world and time that is so dominated with technology, building a trail is one of the most ancient of human practises. Trailbuilding is at heart, a creative act of service – you’re creating something upon which others will manifest their own experiences, their own journeys of play, healing and reconnection. It’s allowed me to reflect on my connections and the state of my relations with myself, my friends, my family, and community. It’s provided a means to feel a sense of shared responsible connection and caring, of home.

Thomas: Trailbuilding has had a profound impact on my own life, shaping my values, priorities, and worldview. It has taught me the importance of community collaboration, environmental stewardship, and the power of outdoor recreation as a tool for personal growth and healing.

How have trailbuilding and riding affected your relationship with the Indigenous / non-Indigenous divide?

Patrick: Trailbuilding and riding have shown me that the “divide” between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous peoples is entirely a manufactured idea created by those who need to keep people separated and afraid of one another. There are legitimate issues and challenges to bringing people together: the legacy and ongoing colonial institutions and structures of our country, the ongoing impacts of intergenerational trauma inflicted on Indigenous Peoples through the genocidal practises of governments and churches. By getting down in the dirt and digging together and then sharing rides together, we find these things don’t need to stand between us, that our shared history can become the foundation for building a better future based on the principles of reconciliation.

Thomas: Trailbuilding and riding have provided a common ground for bridging the Indigenous / non-Indigenous divide, fostering mutual respect, understanding, and collaboration. By working together on shared goals and projects, we can break down barriers and build a more inclusive and harmonious society.

Who do you hope watches the film?

Patrick: We hope that anyone with an interest in reconciliation will have the chance to see our film. We created this primarily for the mountain bike, trailbuilding, and outdoor recreation community who have supported us through this journey. We believe the future of our sport and the craft of trailbuilding depends on our capacity as a community to engage with Indigenous Peoples and to align ourselves as allies as they assert their rights and title and their creator give role as the caretakers and stewards of their lands.

Thomas: We hope that a diverse audience, including youth, outdoor enthusiasts, community leaders, policymakers, and Indigenous communities, will watch the film. Our goal is to inspire positive change and spark meaningful conversations about the intersection of outdoor recreation, reconciliation, and youth empowerment.
What do you hope happens with Indigenous youth and mountain biking in the future?

What do you hope happens with Indigenous youth and mountain biking in the future?

Patrick: We hope the sport continues to grow and even greater numbers of Indigenous youth get involved and make the sport their own. We are seeing this around the province, where Indigenous youth and communities are getting bikes, building trails, and “Indigenizing” mountain biking and making it work for them. That makes me feel hopeful for the future of riding and trailbuilding.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thomas: I would like to emphasize the importance of ongoing support and collaboration from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in advancing reconciliation efforts within the outdoor recreation sector. Together, we can create a more inclusive and equitable outdoor environment for future generations to enjoy and steward.

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