Hero Adventure Park at Heia Safari

[Guest notmyname]

Well... It's quite possible that the Hero trails are his favourite trails. So by being the charming, busines savvy specimen he seems to be(add the font). He feels nothing but joy that "the man" has sorted "his" trails.

[RocknRolla]

Fuggem. 

 

The owner of the cradle moon conservancy does not see a cent of my hard earned cash. 

I understand Hero needs to pay him the court agreed rate for land access, but I will not pay him his R30 conservancy fee.

 

Sorry Dflip. Hope you get it sorted soon, the missus and I certainly have been missing the trails.

[ANDY DOTT]

Fuggem. 

 

The owner of the cradle moon conservancy does not see a cent of my hard earned cash. 

I understand Hero needs to pay him the court agreed rate for land access, but I will not pay him his R30 conservancy fee.

 

Sorry Dflip. Hope you get it sorted soon, the missus and I certainly have been missing the trails.

 

Hi Guys, Forgive me for adding my five cents worth, but I seem to be the elephant in the room as such, or more accurately the Ogre of Heia. Yes my name is Andy Dott and I am the new owner of Heia and I won't hide behind a pseudonym.

Yes I have bought Heia as an insolvent business that was about to close its doors. I inherited Hero and from the outset was prepared to work with them, but the agreement in place was the most ludicrous one-sided thing you have ever seen. Hero never initiated the trails on Heia, he was a Johnnie come lately who simply sold the concept to a naive widow who new no better, and now the party is over. Trails existed on Heia for many years before and I have met all the guys who dug them. But I give him his due, simply not on the current basis.

Contrary to popular belief I am an avid cyclist, and although I am getting on now, most of you will be passing me on the Yellow trail or up Suikerbossie at some stage in a year, but please believe me when I say that I have most t-shirts in that regard. The Gary Beneke's and Nic White's are personal friends and I am sure would be happy to vouch for me in that regard.

So my intention is to create a far more professional and complete product for all of you, within a secure Conservancy with wild animals and indigenous vegetation, but most of all, on the doorstep of urban Jhbg.

At the moment I am spending Millions of rand on upgrading the place including paving the entire driveway from Beyers Naude, and you can imagine how I feel when I look out of my little office at Heia and watch all the cyclists coming through, in the knowledge that I get nothing of that income.

Yes Hero has got an interim interdict ordering that I may not evict them, but only because I am unable to obtain a court date in Pretoria at the high court. They are doing everything in their power to avoid such a date, as the case is quite cut and dry as most of the properties I bought were out of a liquidation sale, and no agreement supersedes that. 

So sure I have deep pockets, but I earned every thread in those pockets and I am investing my money in the country in rock and mortar and securing a huge area that has up and until now, had no direction.

Please RocknRolla, Small Fry, Bonus, Fr33rider, ByronH, xcd, NicNacDH, The Flying German and all you others who have pre-judged me and taken a stance, please come and pop in. I will buy you a beer and be happy to ask any niggling questions you may have, eye to eye.

All the best, ANDY

[Guest notmyname]

Hi Guys, Forgive me for adding my five cents worth, but I seem to be the elephant in the room as such, or more accurately the Ogre of Heia. Yes my name is Andy Dott and I am the new owner of Heia and I won't hide behind a pseudonym.

Yes I have bought Heia as an insolvent business that was about to close its doors. I inherited Hero and from the outset was prepared to work with them, but the agreement in place was the most ludicrous one-sided thing you have ever seen. Hero never initiated the trails on Heia, he was a Johnnie come lately who simply sold the concept to a naive widow who new no better, and now the party is over. Trails existed on Heia for many years before and I have met all the guys who dug them. But I give him his due, simply not on the current basis.

Contrary to popular belief I am an avid cyclist, and although I am getting on now, most of you will be passing me on the Yellow trail or up Suikerbossie at some stage in a year, but please believe me when I say that I have most t-shirts in that regard. The Gary Beneke's and Nic White's are personal friends and I am sure would be happy to vouch for me in that regard.

So my intention is to create a far more professional and complete product for all of you, within a secure Conservancy with wild animals and indigenous vegetation, but most of all, on the doorstep of urban Jhbg.

At the moment I am spending Millions of rand on upgrading the place including paving the entire driveway from Beyers Naude, and you can imagine how I feel when I look out of my little office at Heia and watch all the cyclists coming through, in the knowledge that I get nothing of that income.

Yes Hero has got an interim interdict ordering that I may not evict them, but only because I am unable to obtain a court date in Pretoria at the high court. They are doing everything in their power to avoid such a date, as the case is quite cut and dry as most of the properties I bought were out of a liquidation sale, and no agreement supersedes that.

So sure I have deep pockets, but I earned every thread in those pockets and I am investing my money in the country in rock and mortar and securing a huge area that has up and until now, had no direction.

Please RocknRolla, Small Fry, Bonus, Fr33rider, ByronH, xcd, NicNacDH, The Flying German and all you others who have pre-judged me and taken a stance, please come and pop in. I will buy you a beer and be happy to ask any niggling questions you may have, eye to eye.

All the best, ANDY

Just in time for Friday.

[Slowbee]

So will the guys take up the offer of a free beer and chat ? Because maybe the other side to this coin is now for all to see.

[Bonus]

Having just left the country, that will be tricky for me. ;-)

[EmptyB]

Hero should be there too for the beers, face to face you'll have both sides of the coin.

 

I just wanna understand the ludicrous one sided aspect referred to cos Hero have put a sh*t load of work into the trails for all our benefit.....have they not? I don't know the history of the trails, I started using them about 18 months ago.

[Fr33rider]

Andy, thank you for your input. I'll happily come and grab a beer once everything is settled.

[L.T.G]

Trails existed on Heia for many years before and I have met all the guys who dug them.

All 40+km of the current trails??

[KLEG]

Wow, what a load of nonsense! That beer sounds like a great idea and I second that! you should get Darren & James from Hero, let's find Gabby (the so called naïve widow) and ask her to join, then of course let's not leave out Gary Beneke, Nick White and let's grab most of the countries cycling fraternity. I'm pretty sure most of them know of Hero and/or have watched them and their work ethic from the side line.

 

I've been hanging at Heia most of my life and let me tell you that Daren & James from Hero did not have to con anyone into setting up a park. There might have been a few old cycling/game/cattle/trails, but the work load and finance that the Hero team put into Heia was massive.

 

About 4 years ago when they started putting in trails, there was next to nothing. Darren, James and their team put in all the hard work. When others were laughing at them for promoting night ride after night ride, etc, etc, they just kept on pursuing a dream.

 

As a matter of fact the so called "naive widows" deceased husband Paul (Darren's personal friend) was working hand in hand with Darren on a daily basis, until his passing.

 

Heia's numbers grew at a rate of knots since Hero's inception and the owners never seamed to complain about the full accommodation, packed restaurants, never mind the corporates that were permanently being secured by Hero, like The Warrior race where Heia had full exclusivity to all food and beverage and many more.

 

My five cents worth would be, hang on to Hero, give Darren, James and their team a break, they tied up a little higher in the cycling fraternity and events coordination than you may think. They may not have bought their way in but they sure worked their way in and that takes more effort, integrity and tenacity than deep pockets.

[Skylark]

 

 

Hi Guys, Forgive me for adding my five cents worth, but I seem to be the elephant in the room as such, or more accurately the Ogre of Heia. Yes my name is Andy Dott and I am the new owner of Heia and I won't hide behind a pseudonym.

Yes I have bought Heia as an insolvent business that was about to close its doors. I inherited Hero and from the outset was prepared to work with them, but the agreement in place was the most ludicrous one-sided thing you have ever seen. Hero never initiated the trails on Heia, he was a Johnnie come lately who simply sold the concept to a naive widow who new no better, and now the party is over. Trails existed on Heia for many years before and I have met all the guys who dug them. But I give him his due, simply not on the current basis.

Contrary to popular belief I am an avid cyclist, and although I am getting on now, most of you will be passing me on the Yellow trail or up Suikerbossie at some stage in a year, but please believe me when I say that I have most t-shirts in that regard. The Gary Beneke's and Nic White's are personal friends and I am sure would be happy to vouch for me in that regard.

So my intention is to create a far more professional and complete product for all of you, within a secure Conservancy with wild animals and indigenous vegetation, but most of all, on the doorstep of urban Jhbg.

At the moment I am spending Millions of rand on upgrading the place including paving the entire driveway from Beyers Naude, and you can imagine how I feel when I look out of my little office at Heia and watch all the cyclists coming through, in the knowledge that I get nothing of that income.

Yes Hero has got an interim interdict ordering that I may not evict them, but only because I am unable to obtain a court date in Pretoria at the high court. They are doing everything in their power to avoid such a date, as the case is quite cut and dry as most of the properties I bought were out of a liquidation sale, and no agreement supersedes that.

So sure I have deep pockets, but I earned every thread in those pockets and I am investing my money in the country in rock and mortar and securing a huge area that has up and until now, had no direction.

Please RocknRolla, Small Fry, Bonus, Fr33rider, ByronH, xcd, NicNacDH, The Flying German and all you others who have pre-judged me and taken a stance, please come and pop in. I will buy you a beer and be happy to ask any niggling questions you may have, eye to eye.

All the best, ANDY

Still sounds like you are acting like the heavy with the money. Money doesn't buy you morality or ethics, granted it can buy a lot of paving though.

 

I would hope you have enough integrity and honour to respect the rule of law, what the court orders and decency thereafter to not harass the opposing party if you do not get the ruling you desire.

 

People see who you are not by what you say but by what you do.

[RocknRolla]

Andy. Thank you for your input and for the names you dropped.

 

I too rode Heia safari before it was Hero adventure park. At that stage it was mostly jeep track and cattle trails. But nowhere near the quality of bike park that it is at this stage.

 

TBH, I do not wish to sit around a table and discuss anything with you. Your tactics thus far has pointed to everything that mtbing is NOT for me. We also dont move in the same circles, thus I think my point of view will be lost on you. This is Darrens fight, I am merely a concerned Mtb'r airing my views on a forum. The fact that you joined, and wish to engage means it was an effective means of getting conversation going.

 

Go to court, sort this thing out. Once decision and resolve have been found, I will vote with my wallet ( as my pockets are not deep at all).

[xcd]

Wow, what a load of nonsense! That beer sounds like a great idea and I second that! you should get Darren & James from Hero, let's find Gabby (the so called naïve widow) and ask her to join, then of course let's not leave out Gary Beneke, Nick White and let's grab most of the countries cycling fraternity. I'm pretty sure most of them know of Hero and/or have watched them and their work ethic from the side line.

I've been hanging at Heia most of my life and let me tell you that Daren & James from Hero did not have to con anyone into setting up a park. There might have been a few old cycling/game/cattle/trails, but the work load and finance that the Hero team put into Heia was massive.

About 4 years ago when they started putting in trails, there was next to nothing. Darren, James and their team put in all the hard work. When others were laughing at them for promoting night ride after night ride, etc, etc, they just kept on pursuing a dream.

As a matter of fact the so called "naive widows" deceased husband Paul (Darren's personal friend) was working hand in hand with Darren on a daily basis, until his passing.

Heia's numbers grew at a rate of knots since Hero's inception and the owners never seamed to complain about the full accommodation, packed restaurants, never mind the corporates that were permanently being secured by Hero, like The Warrior race where Heia had full exclusivity to all food and beverage and many more.

My five cents worth would be, hang on to Hero, give Darren, James and their team a break, they tied up a little higher in the cycling fraternity and events coordination than you may think. They may not have bought their way in but they sure worked their way in and that takes more effort, integrity and tenacity than deep pockets.

I don't know where you are getting your information from !

The original trails where cut and designed by Gavin Pelser with the help of Bryce Monroe.(Gavin Pelser Also designed Mount Grace Mtb track) I recall riding these trails in 2012 after the manager Paul ( Gabby's partner. I don't recall them being married ) said I can ride the trails free of charge as he wanted them to be hard packed. The berms had just been installed and needed compaction. 27 km of track

If you have been hanging around Heia your whole life, how come this is your 1st post ?when so much has been going on with Hero- Heia. ( I have lived in the area for many years and watched the progress of the dam wall been built by the old man Richter )

I think all of us Mtb's deserve the truth and by hearing both sides we can come to a conclusion instead of just supporting a one sided story.

[Karin]

Let me tell you about Andy and his manager Jeremy. My 17 year old son worked for Darren at Heia during the holidays (November/December) and still works on weekends for Darren either at Hobby or Heia. He loves mtb'ing and enjoys interacting with cyclists and has nothing to with the fight between Heia and Hero. The amount of verbal abuse he had to endure from these 2 grown up men (Andy and Jeremy) was shocking. He has never in his life been spoken to and treated in the manner these two men treated him. The profanities that were slung at him had him in such a state that he wanted to stop working there, but he loves working with Darren and Hero and they have always been very supportive of my son, so he stuck it out.

He's a child for goodness sake.

[Newboy]

"At the moment I am spending Millions of rand on upgrading the place including paving the entire driveway from Beyers Naude, and you can imagine how I feel when I look out of my little office at Heia and watch all the cyclists coming through, in the knowledge that I get nothing of that income."

 

I am calling BS on this one. Maybe you should look out the window towards the restaurant side. Or are your staff pocketing all the money I spend on food, coffee, beer and cold drinks?

[ByronH]

Let me tell you about Andy and his manager Jeremy. My 17 year old son worked for Darren at Heia during the holidays (November/December) and still works on weekends for Darren either at Hobby or Heia. He loves mtb'ing and enjoys interacting with cyclists and has nothing to with the fight between Heia and Hero. The amount of verbal abuse he had to endure from these 2 grown up men was shocking. The profanities that were slung at him had him in such a state that he wanted to stop working there. He has never in his life been spoken to and treated in the manner these two men treated him. Shocking. He's a child for goodness sake.

Hi Proudmom

 

Wow that is sad to hear.

 

I know there are always many sides to a story, but I do hope your son is riding well regardless of people's nonsense.

 

May he learn from this experience how to be an inspirational leader one day when he has a position of power, rather than just a 'manager'