JORDAN CHAPLIN
Vancouver Island based Jordan Chaplin has gained a loyal social following by sharing his rides which in turn has created a community that share in his progression and exchange opinions, insights and great places to ride.
I was born on Vancouver Island, BC and grew up here until I left at 18 years old. I was always into mountain biking as a kid, starting with those classic after school rides with friends. A pack of us would scour the town for urban jumps and drop, or go build our own off in the woods.
I landed an after school job at the local bike shop which was the absolute dream as a youngster and turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. We had a ton of fun, but at the same time I learned a lot about bike mechanics and life in general. Over the four years I worked there they put what felt like a lot of trust and responsibility in me, which I contribute to the start of my hard work ethic today.
I didn’t ride a bike for 12 years and it's one of very few regrets I have in life. As I got older, I let career and life take me away from riding. I’ve lived all over Canada, but mostly where the land is flat and the winters are long and frozen. I realise now there are other ways to stay in touch with cycling, but as they say “ c’est la vie”. It wasn’t all bad though, that time spent focusing on my professional life set me up for the overall stability in life that gives me the time to ride a bunch now in my thirties!
It was always my goal to move back to Vancouver Island and after 13 long years away, I moved back in 2020. Planning a big move, buying and selling a house during the peak of covid proved pretty challenging. Fortunately my employment was deemed “essential service” during lockdown and everyone was really accommodating, making the move pretty seamless. Even my dogs Rhilla and the now late Aria, both German Shorthaired Pointers (GSP’s) adjusted really well. The climate here is really moderate and the winters are forgiving, which is a bonus when you spend as much time outside as us.
What I love about mountain biking is the natural shift in my mindset to just stay in the moment. I’ve found it’s the path of least resistance to tune into myself and just be present. I’m the type of rider that doesn’t actually feel the need to be constantly progressing, or taking risks. I think progression and reasonable risk taking come naturally with the sport but the only ‘need’ I feel is to just be outside riding. Most of my time on the bike is spent solo, which I actually enjoy, but I’ll admit it's hard to beat the feeling of a good group ride with friends. Days when everyone’s energy is feeding off each other is truly special, the more of those that happen the luckier I feel.
I gravitate heavily towards aggressive trail / enduro riding. Genre definition in mountain biking seems to change a lot, but the aspect I love about our sport is everyone gets to ride their bike the way they want. For me, that means bringing physical, mental and mechanical aspects into harmony on the trail, whatever that looks like on the day I happen to be riding. The perfect trail to me is the one that requires me to ride with intent, but not be overly worried about consequence. It’s probably going to have fast open sections, mid sized jumps and pockets of coveted loam
Endurance style cardio has been a game changer in my overall physical and mental well being. If I had to pinpoint why mountain biking is so important to me, steady state cardio would have a strong argument for top contender. For me it's an unmatched maintenance program body and mind. Forrest Gump said “I just felt like running”. I think that's the same feeling I get when I’m just sitting and turning the pedals.
My Instagram presence started pretty naturally, I had a private account where I mostly shared the token “behind bars” photos of where I was riding, or random pictures of the dogs. One day I was scrolling through my credit card rewards program, and saw I had enough points for a GoPro 9. Without much thought I ordered it and started recording my rides, with no real intent to do anything with the footage.
After a while I had a huge amount of footage and after sharing a ton of bike videos on my (at the time) private Instagram account, someone finally suggested I make my account public. I did and with that brought a surprising amount of positive feedback and views. So like Forrest, I just kept riding and soon enough I had a whole community with me.
I really enjoy the process of filming and sharing my rides - the content engagement is just the icing on the cake. Sometimes the process is literally as simple as pressing the record button, riding wherever I happen to end up and uploading my videos at the end of the day. Other days, I’ll obsess over the perfect camera angle or setting and be out specifically to film sections of trail I think would look good. I take different approaches on different days, but both are equally fun to me.
“Genre definition in mountain biking seems to change a lot, but the aspect I love about our sport is everyone gets to ride their bike the way they want.”
Just sharing my rides might sound like content oversimplified, but I think that over time it has kept a ton of engagement and continues to be a talking point. In the big picture people who continue to follow along get to see progression, my opinions, insights and the amazing places where I’m lucky enough to ride. I’m proud of the fact my content allows people to just enjoy a reel for what it is, or really tune into stories and get a better sense of who I am, and who my friends are as riders.
I’ve been working at finding my balance in longer form via YouTube, and look to join the community over there more regularly. I love experimenting and never want to get pigeonholed into one type of media, so I’m working towards having some different technology flying through my videos!
I’m incredibly proud to be joining the Deviate Clan, and have been so intrigued by their engineering, design and aesthetics since first hearing about them a few years back. As soon as I saw the Claymore I knew it would be a great fit for the way I like to ride my bike. I value a bike that inspires confidence, but is also predictable and manageable both up and down the mountain. A fun bike trumps every other factor for me, so I was beyond thrilled when I jumped on the Claymore and found it’s as fun as it is fast. Claymore's respectable manners, predictability and high “but not too high” pivot design has given me the confidence to ride faster, more comfortably without having to think about it. Every conversation I’ve had with Deviate, or with people about Deviate has been positive. It’s a dream come true to be joining our communities - after all riding bikes can be about whatever you want but positivity always fits into the equation.
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