When Mannie Heymans retired from professional racing two years ago, he opened Mannie’s Bike Mecca in Windhoek and got right down to business.
Mannie’s Bike Mecca. Photo: Logo
“What do you do when you’re a retired pro athlete? I couldn’t become a dentist, now could I?”
The result was the natural progression of a lifelong passion for cycling and the next step in his colourful career.
Heymans first took up the sport at a very young age in his hometown of Krugersdorp, where fellow cycling legend Robbie Hunter also hails from.
“I was just always on the bike from age four or five,” he says. “There was a BMX track in town and I spent hours riding there.”
At school he was a skilled rugby player and when his family moved to Namibia in 1984, he kept at it. One day he had a disagreement with the coach and, with typical derring-do, decided to enter a local cycle race instead.
That first taste of a podium position was enough to encourage the young Mannie to enter a slew of races and, in his own words, “I soon became a little bit unbeatable on the local scene”.
In 1998 he switched from road to mountain biking to qualify for the upcoming Olympics and, the very next year, clinched the continental cross-country title at the All Africa Games in Johannesburg.
Heymans recalls 2004 as a very special year for him. His triumphs that season included the Transalp, Cape Epic and he participated in both the UCI Mountain Bike Worlds and Olympics.
Giving further credence to his nickname, Mr African, he became the first from this continent to be selected a mountain bike commissioner for the UCI.
However, a career that provided such highs also produced its fair share of lows. After being sidelined following a series of bad crashes, he was diagnosed with osteoporosis – a condition that forced him to retire from professional racing.
“It got to me for a while, but there’s nothing you can do to cure it, you can just receive treatment. These days I don’t even think about it anymore.”
Indomitable as ever, Heymans raised some eyebrows last year when he rode the Cape Epic on his new favourite toy – a fat bike. The name refers to the larger-than-normal tyres, which are typically 3.7 inches with rims wider than 44mm.
“I was doing a race in Canada in 2012 and I saw a fat bike. I was just taken with it so I had to buy one.”
He enthuses further about how well it works, especially in the Namibian outback where there are dry riverbeds and dunes aplenty.
“Namibia is very sandy and originally the tyres were developed for riding on snow. To me snow and sand are pretty much the same thing when you’re riding.”
Fat bikes are now a featured product at Mannie’s Bike Mecca, which boasts some of the most exciting local and international brands as well as the full complement of services.
Although he stocks both road and mountain bikes, he says the latter are definitely more popular.
“I sell 20 mountain bikes for every road bike.
“The fat bike is a completely new direction that we’re going in – for a long time I was the only retailer here stocking them.”
Momsen is his flagship brand, but you can also buy Cannondale, Rocky Mountain, Cube and others.
Heymans says the shop has one of the best-equipped bike workshops in Africa, which spawned their motto “Impossible is nothing”.
“There’s not a thing I can’t fix,” he promises.
Apart from being a hands-on retailer, Heymans promotes the sport via mentorship and sponsorship.
“We help quite a few athletes, but our main rider is Tristan de Lange (who won bronze in the junior section at the national cross-country champs in Port Elizabeth).”
Up-and-coming riders like Namibia’s Costa Seibeb – who rides for the World Cycling Centre Africa team – have also referenced Heymans as an inspiration for chasing their cycling dreams.
Heymans himself continues to dream big and has exciting plans for the shop.
“There’s a 4 000-square metre property across the road where I want to build a bike track and a coffee shop and so on. I want Mannie’s Bike Mecca to become a one-stop shop.”
