Suleiman Kangangi: Cyclist who rose from humble beginnings to race globally

You and everyone you’ve ever known will someday die. It is an uncomfortable truth that is made easier only by the ambiguity surrounding it – nobody knows the exact date or means of their death.

Psychologists say that, given an option on how to die, many would choose to die doing what they love.

Well, that lot has befallen cycling giant Suleiman Kangangi who died on August 27 after succumbing to injuries sustained in a high speed crash during the Vermont Overland gravel cycling competition in the United States of America.

He was a 33-year-old friend, coach, inspiration, leader and father from Iten, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, who was determined to throw a new sport in the list of Kenya’s all-conquering disciplines – cycling.

He had the ambitious dream of making it to the Tour de France which is the crown jewel of the global cycling championships, and competing at the Olympics, and remained tethered to this vision even in Kenya where cycling remains a minority pursuit.

Fondly known as ‘Sule’, Kangangi was the captain of Team Amani, and one of the most popular figures in the Kenyan cycling scene.

I first met Sule on June 1, 2019 on the slopes of the Aberdare Ranges where he and several other riders had gathered for a race.

It was meant to be a competitive outing, with him battling for top honours and me covering the race, but I now find myself unable to remember which position Sule finished in that race.

All I remember was his towering figure standing next to his bike a short while after the race, listening to the song Usiende Mbali Nami by Ugandan singer Juliana Kanyomozi featuring Rutta Maximilian Bushoke from Tanzania on a purple portable speaker.

I remember this because the speaker was rattling along to the base so loudly that it almost interfered with our interview.

It was the first and only interview I was able to get with Sule, and he spoke thoughtfully about the future he foresaw both for himself as a cyclist and the cycling industry at large.

His beginnings weren’t fancy and he wasn’t ashamed of stating it.

He started cycling by occasionally “stealing” his grandfather’s ‘Black Mamba’ bicycle after school, and later using it to transport things for people, to get around, or just for fun.

“But I never thought I could earn a living from it,” Sule told me.

It was in 2010, when he was 22, that the wheels of his cycling career began turning.

“I was at the market centre in Eldoret when I saw a convoy of bikers racing on the road. I was instantly smitten,” he said.

His interest in professional cycling was born that day, and in 2016, three years before our meeting, his career took a major boost when he was roped in by Kenyan Riders Downunder, a continental squad composed of Kenyans and Australians.

That team ended up being the first UCI Continental team to be registered in East Africa.

By the time I met him in 2019, Sule had already joined American team Bike Aid, and was building his professional cycling career.

Over the last six years, Sule travelled to stage races in Asia, Australia, and in several African countries.

He represented Kenya at the Commonwealth Games and All Africa Games. In 2017, he placed third overall in the Tour du Rwanda.

Every time he was on two wheels, the look on his face left no doubt as to just how much he enjoyed the sport.

The fact that cycling in Kenya is woefully underfunded didn’t faze him one bit.

He was determined to grow despite all odds.

And as a show of just how seriously he wanted to be taken as a cyclist, he gathered cycling information from whoever and wherever he could.

He read whatever he could get a hold of, and watched races on the internet, eager to draw as much information as he could.

He got the information he needed by reading magazines and books handed down to him by his mentors in Iten, then later, when he started earning enough to buy internet bundles, he started watching YouTube tutorials. Cycling Today was his favourite website.

There is nothing that shows Kangangi was aware that his death would come early, but he certainly knew that his years of riding professionally were ending.

He was keen on preparing the ground for the next generation and in his last days he was involved in charity programmes in Nairobi and Kaptagat, and mentorship programmes with school children.

What irked him the most was the fact that most Kenyan roads are dangerous for cyclists.

“On most roads, there are no cycling lanes, and where we have them, public service vehicles frequently overlap, making it very unpleasant to cycle,” he said during an interview featured on the Daily Nation.

The other thing he hated was the fact that the local cycling federation is so dormant that it is of little use to cyclists.

“There is a federation that is in charge of cycling in Kenya. But none of their representatives is involved in this race. None of them is here. And that is a big problem,” he said during the June 1 race on the Aberdare Ranges.

It may be comforting to think that Sule passed away doing what he loved, but he loved so much more than bike racing. His grieving wife and child were at his requiem mass at the Nyayo National Stadium yesterday, clearly still shocked by his untimely death.

A relative wondered loudly where Sule got the good English he used in communication yet he left school in Class Five.

But that was Sule. He never let his background or circumstances get in the way of his ambitions.

At the time of his death, Sule was a member of the newly-formed Team Amani, a squad of off-road riders from Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Just like at Kenyan Riders team, he was the captain of Team Amani, which perhaps speaks of his abilities as a natural leader.

Road racing was his first love and Chris Froome was his idol, but at the tail end of his life, Sule fully embraced a transition to eRacing, and then gravel.

After he switched to off-road, Kangangi raced across the globe, and explored various ultra-endurance events in the US.

“Sule, I have so much respect for you mate! A real man, made something amazing out his life and started with nothing.

You inspired so many. Rest In Peace,” mourned Simon Blake, co-founder of Kenyan Riders Down Under who was also Sule’s mentor.

Kangangi’s remains will be interred Thursday at Kiplombe Public Cemetery in Eldoret.

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