New winner Kabush out-chugged Yao Ming at Beijing Olympics

Victoria's Geoff Kabush pulled off his first ever World Cup mountain bike victory on home soil yesterday in Bromont, Que., even if he was unrecognizable to anyone but his Mom afterwards, buried beneath all that mud as he crossed the finish line.

Kabush is a real character as well as a gritty competitor. 

Popular among his peers, his blog for Cyclingnews.com last year ran under the banner "Mr. Congeniality."  In the pictures accompanying a blog post from the Beijing Games, he looks like a cross between Ricky Bobby in Talledega Nights and one of the Hanson Brothers.

Olympic triathlon champ Simon Whitfield ranks him as one of the funniest people he knows.  Considering the crowd that Whitfield travels with, that's high praise indeed.

Kabush wasn't at all satisfied wiith his performance at the Beijing Games after finishing 20th. The Olympic highlight for Kabush was getting into a beer chugging contest at the Closing Ceremonies with basketball star Yao Ming, who at first declared that he didn't drink.

This video got a lot of air time on YouTube after the Olympics. Watch to see the 6-foot-2, 165-pound Canuck bravely taking on the 7-foot-6, 310-pound Chinese legend on his own turf.  Tsing Tao was their weapon of choice.  You determine the winner.