Nathan Evington

Nathan Evington
28/02/77 - 03/11/07

About Nathan


Nathan, was a big chap in more ways than one. He was always to be found at the centre of the action, telling it exactly as it was – loudly!

In fact, Nathan was in such a hurry to make his impact on the world, he arrived on a cold February morning 8 weeks early. He was so premature that he spent his first month in hospital, and at the time was one of the youngest babies in Hedon Road hospital to survive!

Cycling played a huge part in Nathan’s life. He loved the film American Flyers and watched it many times. In it, there is a scene where the main character does the "torture test" which involved running on a treadmill for as long as possible before ending the test by hitting the "chicken" switch. After Nathan’s diagnosis of cardiomyopathy in 2004, he was actually quite excited to discover that he would be required to do his own "torture test" and spent a good deal of time psyching himself up for a good performance. In fact, he was so determined that it was ultimately the doctor, his Mum and the technician who had to drag him off, as Nathan refused to give in himself.

Cycling also revealed Nathan’s talent for remembering facts and figures. He was our very own walking cycling encyclopaedia. He loved to test his friends and show off his knowledge, and he was always the person you would want on your pub quiz team.

Nathan was determined to live life to the full, and unbeknown to his Mum he began playing in a football team a few years ago. The cat was out of the bag when a new football trophy took pride of place on the mantelpiece one evening. Nathan was very proud of himself and his team-mates, although I am reliably informed that Nathan was valued more for his enthusiastic participation, rather than his football talents – which led to his shots on goal just missing the target – 100% of the time!

Nathan was the life and soul of any party and loved to dance. He would always take to the dance floor first, and was quite happy to dance alone. However, his infectious enthusiasm always encouraged others to join him.

Nathan was a kind man, and always generous to a fault – on the benefit of his Mum and brother. He had a very special sense of humour – one he shared with his brother – and left his mark on everyone he met.


Saturday, 12 April 2008

Altitude Training

I have an advantage over the other guys. I'm not sure how much of advantage it is but I'm taking it nevertheless. Tomorrow I fly to Johannesburg which is 1753m high (nearly as high as where we'll be staying in Alpe D'Huez) for work. Now, I don't exactly know the benefit of sending emails and attending meetings at altitude but it's got to be better than Paris right? I'll be using the gym as much as I can - I need to - had a wedding back in UK last weekend and picked up a cold so haven't done much for 10 days. Last time in Joburg I was using the bike in the gym (they're awful aren't they?!!) and the effort was so hard I pulled a muscle in my ribs trying to get some oxygen in! I felt much fitter when I came home though, as if I'd moved the redline a few %.
Today I managed 50 miles in the Bois de Boulogne (a park to the west of Paris) at an ave. of 21.7mph. That's fast but I am cheating a bit. Every Sat and Sun the Park is closed to traffic around the horse racing track (where they have the Prix de l'Arc de Triompe) and it's full of cyclists. Some go round the 2.2 mile circuit at 10mph and some go round at 30mph with every speed in between too. You can always find a group riding at the speed you want to and it's great fun, especially for an ex racer like me. When I first turned up I managed an hour in the 15mph group but it's great motivation to try and follow a quicker group, you can really measure your improvements. Obviously not great training for the Alps so I don't do it too often now but it's nice to have it there if you haven't got much time or fancy a burn up. FatSprinter loved it a month ago when at the end of a 62mile ride we went and did another 10miles in the park doing through and off ;-) it's additive he said. True.
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