Gino Nava is embracing the winter city-ness of Prince George and there’s proof.
Tourism PG created a video in partnership with filmmakers 6ix Sigma Productions to highlight the city’s snowscapes and connectedness to its residents through winter fatbiking.
But to Nava, who stars in the short film with his 10-year-old daughter Matteia, the video is more than a Prince George showcase.
It’s a love letter to his children and their shared enthusiasm for two-wheeled, people-powered fun.
But Nava's life wasn't always this way. His childhood was filled with turmoil, to say the least.
“My childhood was very difficult,” Nava said. “I was born in Canada but my parents were Sri Lanken. We lived here for a few years, not enough to have any memories and then we moved back. I lived in war until I was about my daughter’s age actually.At 10-11 years old I came back to Canada a completely different human being. I like to think my parents did the best they could because of the circumstances but you talk about philosophies instilled in me as a kid – nothing – completely destroyed. I missed being a child.”
Coming out on the other side of his childhood trauma he knew he wanted to do things differently for his children.
“Doing things with your children, I think, is very important,” Nava said about the family he created with his wife Kerri, Matteia and nine-year-old twins Emma and Gianna.
“There is a very specific reason I picked cycling. Before I had kids I would chat with parents and they would talk about how they would drive their kids to soccer. Drive their kids to basketball. Drive their kids to volleyball – always driving their kids here, driving their kids there. They would sit and watch and they would become the spectator. And I thought that sounds a lot like chauffeuring your children around town and you’re not really involved. And I knew I couldn’t do that. I needed to do things with my kids. I didn’t want to spectate.”
He knew cycling was the answer.
“I could do that with my children,” Nava said. “I can train her, coach her and she rides with some of the groups I go with and we actually compete in the races together. We do different distances but we are at the start line together. So that was my dream. It was the big take away of how I wanted to design my relationship with my girls growing up.”
Matteia said she knows there is something special about spending time with her Dad.
"They're pretty precious moments," Matteia said. “I think I have a pretty good Dad.”
Nava came to fatbiking as he was looking for an alternative to basketball he played during the winter. After being plagued with injuries and realizing he couldn’t play ball anymore he needed to find something else to do during the colder months, he explained.
“So I had already been mountain biking in the summer and during the winter I was getting the blues,” Nava said.
“So of course you explore skiing and snowboarding and all the winter sports but then you look at the cost and the time commitments and it’s just crazy so I thought I already know how to bike and they have these bikes with fat tires to ride on snow and we’ve got these amazing trails.”
Putting it all together was easy for him.
Nava got his first fatbike in 2017 and has been riding ever since and then the real fun started when Matteia started riding with him about five years ago.
She’s 10 now so she’s literally been fatbiking half her life.
And before Matteia could answer the question ‘and did you start riding because of your Dad?’
Nava jumped in.
“She had no choice,” he smiled and Matteia smiled right back.
At first it was a bit scary for Matteia.
“I was afraid to fall but then once I fell it was like falling into a cloud,” Matteia said, throwing her arms up in the air.
“The fresh air and sun makes me feel happy. I feel like I’m stronger than I was. It makes me feel like I can do this!”
To go fatbiking together allows Nava to be a kid with Matteia, he said.
“We try to get in as many adventures as possible so we can see the world on two wheels.”
Fatbiking is a sport growing in popularity in Prince George and it sets a different pace compared to those who do the more extreme mountain biking that sees some crazy, high speed downhill trail adventures.
“There are a lot more retired people, a lot more people who are just not aggressive in how they ride,” Nava explained. “They just want to get out there and they don’t want to do jumps or anything. So they get out and we have this whole retired group of people who just like to have fun.”
On any given weekend Nava said there are dozens of people who are in their 40s, 50s and 60s who ride together.
Nava is a longtime member of the Prince George Cycling Club that use groomers to finesse the trails around Prince George.
“And the trails are amazing,” Nava said.
In the video the father daughter duo navigate the frosty trails of Forests for the World, not only showcasing the undeniable bond between them but the winter sport and the beauty of Prince George as well.
The unique Prince George Tourism video will ultimately be used to attract visitors to the area, promoting it through television and social media platforms.
"Fatbiking is a market that is still relatively untapped but has huge potential in enticing tourists to visit our community,” Colin Carson, CEO Tourism Prince George, said.
