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.


Sunday, 11 May 2008

Breaking news: Thin forgiven!

You're right - the mountain bike was proper relegated today! Skinny tyres were back out and were a joy!

I didn't have the time for another epic this weekend so I set out for a shorter, hillier ride. I thought I'd hit the accelerator a bit too hard at the beginning having gone the hard way out of Aberdeen and still hit 17mph for the opening 10. I was expecting something a bit steeper after this, 'cos the road I followed peaks at 294m, which is about twice South Cave I think, but actually the gradient was fairly gentle. Oddly it seemed steeper when I came down it a few weeks ago. Fast descent from the top to Aboyne, sprint for the sign (where I recorded my max speed for the day of 36mph - it is a downhill sprint...) before crossing the Dee and heading to the slightly steeper hills on the route back. There's two decent climbs coming back, both with about 150m of climbing. The rest of the route home is undulating in the way the road to South Cave is undulating.

Unlike you lucky buggers in sunny England/France I rode in low cloud all the way round today, with thick fog at the top of the hills taking visibility down to ~100m. This played weird tricks on my mind 'cos you can't see the horizon. It looked like I was going up hill on descents and downhill on climbs! Very strange...

Final score: 77 miles, 18.1 mph. Didn't think I had that in me! Low tech route map below...


Season firsts for today:
1. First 60mile plus ride without a stop and without (solid) food,
2. First time I've set off with a mild hangover (first time since I did a road race around Skidby about 8 years ago...),
3. First airing of the still-hairy legs (it topped 12°C today so I thought I'd ditch the leggings!),
4. I'm guessing this, but I reckon I was at least 50, if not nearer to 60 miles in the big ring today, which is definitely a first for the season if not ever!

Of course, all of the above pails into insignificance compared to the mighty Tigers knocking two goals in away to Watford and getting their skipper sent of in the process! Sweet! The Premiership beckons...

Must go. Hope you've all got some good miles in - am still expecting a tow to the bottom of the hill!

Cheers,

Col.
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2 comments:

Damian said...

Good pace that, well done. I spent the entire afternoon in the pub watching aforementioned Tigers then the Premiership. Don't fancy my chances for a pleasant third ride in a row tomorrow....

11 May 2008 at 21:05
Anonymous said...

God you're going well aren't you ! peaked too early i think ! I mean I hope ! Keep up the good work Col you'll have us all begging for mercy come Aug ! I'll have to give you a call for some training tips !

12 May 2008 at 19:04

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