Welcome to Episode two of the Steed Cycles podcast! In this episode sam talks to Andreas Hestler, or Dre as his friends call him. Dre is legendary in the in the mountain bike scene, growing up in Victoria, BC and moving to Vancouver in the early 90s he kick-started his XC racing career and was at the top of the XC field for many years. One of his biggest achievements was representing Canada in mountain biking the first time it was ever included in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Since then Dre was a mainstay at the races and was a household name for Canadian mountain bikers, riding for Rocky Mountain, one of the top teams at the time.
Later on in his career he started to gain a passion for stage racing and transitioned into this race format. He finds a beauty in how the human body can be pushed way further than it's perceived limits given the opportunity, and how much there is to learn about oneself in doing so for several days straight. He also loves the sense of camaraderie that racers develop, breaking down all kind of social, cultural and language barriers to help one another find their strength.
With the North Shore as his stomping grounds, Dre is no slouch on a bike
Since then, Dre helped to start and is still a co-owner of BC Bike Race (BCBR), pioneering stage racing on singletrack in Canada. BC Bike Race though a small event still draws competitors from all over the world and is seen as a premium mountain bike event - it sells out in minutes every year. Unfortunately this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BCBR has had to postpone the event until September, thankfully this still looks good to go ahead. You can find more information about BCBR here.
Dre now also works in marketing at Rocky Mountain Bicycles - since he spent so long marketing himself as a racer aboard Rocky Mountain bikes, he felt that it was a natural progression. Rocky Mountain is a North Shore brand steeped in history and racing pedigree, so it's only fitting for Dre to find a place amongst them. Rocky Mountain is a fun place to work with all of the staff there as passionate about bikes as anyone else in the cycling industry, it's inspirational to see and though they're not a brand that we stock here at Steed, we appreciate the passion and dedication they put into the development of their bikes.
Check out the full podcast to hear how Dre got his racing career started, why he's passionate about stage racing and what he loves about the riding scene here in BC. You can get the podcast either in the browser-based player below or on Spotify and iTunes. Simply search for Steed Cycles to find our channel. Thanks for listening!
