Team Stages

Jordan Kestler

Folsom, California

Primary Discipline(s) Road Cycling / Criterium, Mountain Biking, Gravel Cycling
Bucket List RaceTrans North California
Post-Race DrinkNuun
Off-Day ActivityBodysurfing

I am a 30 year old mountain biker who also happens to race gravel events and commute ~50km to work 4 days a week (before working from home). I've been racing and riding since I was 14 years old, and got my start in the Norcal Highschool Racing League. I started the club at my high school, and grew it from 3 team members to roughly 15 (5x increase). I attended college at UC Berkeley, where I studied mechanical engineering and continued to race bikes at the collegiate level. I competed at mountain bike nationals 3 years, in both xc and gravity events. In the springtime, I led road bike training rides and raced the collegiate road series, culminating with a 7 place overall in the statewide series and an 12th place at the collegiate nationals road race in Wisconsin. My junior year of college I was the President of the Cal Cycling Club, doubled the club membership, and led the team to a 5th place team omnium placing at nationals. During this time I also achieved my Cat 2 road upgrade.

After graduating college, I worked at Praxis Works Components in Santa Cruz designing cranks and bottom brackets for nearly 2 years. During this time I did not race, but volunteered and coached the local Kirby High School Mountain Bike Team twice a week.

After working at Praxis, I made a career switch to Google and moved to Pacifica, where I currently reside. In 2015 I began racing again in the California Enduro Series, and since then I have competed every year in the Downieville Classic, Lost and Found gravel grinder, and several Grasshopper Adventure Series, last year competing in the Pro Class. I am part of the SF2G club, a group of commuters that ride from San Francisco to Google (and/or southbay companies) every day of the week. I lead at least 2 rides a week with the group, on top of 2 solo/smaller rides.

Once the pandemic hit, my commute rides were eliminated so I decided to mountain bike every day and see how much climbing I could get in a year. In May, June, and July I was able to average 30,000m per month before the widfires hit. I have still not missed a single day and next week will be 6 consecutive months. During this time I have met dozens of local riders out of the trails, and networked with them via Strava. I have also been accepted to be a Fox Racing Shox Test rider, and would love the opportunity to work with Stages.