Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

[Abdominal Muscle Enhancer: After using this item, you can strengthen your abdominal muscles and enhance core strength, allowing the host to maintain upper body stability during long-distance rides and maximize aerodynamics.]

...

Huang Chong’s expression froze for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses.

’A one-minute plank?’

’This quest is practically effortless to complete.’

However, he had just started losing weight and was still a bit chubby. With his somewhat bloated and sponge-soft belly, it would be nearly impossible to get the double reward for this quest.

He was all too familiar with planks.

For someone who had never trained their abs, holding a plank for one minute was easy enough. But increasing that to two or three minutes was incredibly difficult.

Once you passed your limit, your abdomen would feel like it was being brutally torn apart, making it impossible to hold on any longer.

So, while this quest seemed simple, mastering it was actually extremely difficult.

Of course, he was currently drafting steadily behind a rare, almost professional three-man team. They were breaking the wind for him, which made it a perfect opportunity for long-distance training. He didn’t want to interrupt his ride just to rush and claim the reward for a new quest, so he simply ignored the system’s notification.

Besides, once a detection quest appeared, it wouldn’t disappear unless he actively canceled it. It would be saved for him for a long time, just like a background process.

He could just complete the quest after he finished his ride.

Time ticked by. The fast-spinning wheels rolled over the road, making a constant whirring sound. When a rider stopped pedaling, the rear hub would emit a pleasant, crisp clicking.

He had been drafting behind others the entire time, which reduced most of the wind resistance. This allowed him to maintain a higher average speed with less power output and save his energy. Even so, Huang Chong still found it quite difficult to keep up for 50 kilometers at an average speed of 33 km/h.

If no one had been breaking the wind for him, he definitely couldn’t have reached this speed on his own.

"We’ve pretty much hit the distance. Let’s take a break here and rest up. We’ll head back in ten minutes!"

Once they hit the 50-kilometer mark, the three riders who had been leading stopped to rest. One of them, while drinking water, turned to a red-faced Huang Chong and said with a smile:

"Brother, the level you showed tonight doesn’t seem like a total newbie. Keeping up with us for an hour and a half at an average of 33 km/h... that’s some impressive strength. So, tell us, how long have you been cycling?"

"Yeah, fess up. Are you actually an old pro pretending to be a rookie to draft off us?"

At this point, the three of them were completely certain that Huang Chong was no mere rookie.

How could someone who just started cycling possibly keep up with old hands like them, who’d been riding road bikes for three or four years? That was just ridiculous!

Hearing this, Huang Chong gave a wry smile as he took a sip of water.

Of course, he couldn’t tell them the truth. After all, showing such consistent strength right after starting was too unbelievable. So he quickly fabricated an excuse and replied:

"I won’t lie to you guys, I didn’t *just* start riding. But before, I was really just messing around on my own for about a year or so.

If you all hadn’t given me some pointers the day before yesterday, and I hadn’t gone home and looked up a bunch of information about professional cycling, I would’ve had no idea that road cycling had so many systematic techniques.

While I was drafting just now, I made a point to observe your cadence and rhythm. I found that riding your way is much easier than my old, clueless style, especially over long distances. That’s the only reason I was barely able to keep up!"

"Oh, so that’s how it is. No wonder you look like a total newbie but have the stamina for long distances. So you’ve been riding for almost a year. There are actually a lot of riders like you—been riding for a while but know nothing about the theory. Do you usually just ride alone for fun? Have you ever joined a local team or club?"

Across two lifetimes, Huang Chong had never joined a team. He usually just rode with Dewey.

In his past life, though, he had participated in quite a few Gran Fondos and amateur races. Although he never won a championship or even made it to the top-three podium, he was no stranger to team riding.

He said bluntly:

"I haven’t joined a team or club yet. I usually just ride for fun with a friend of mine. He owns a bike shop that’s closed today. It’s called Feichi Bicycle. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but I work at his shop now!"

"Feichi Bicycle? I know that shop! It’s pretty much the most high-end boutique bike shop in Hangcheng, right? Our team captain’s Colnago V3RS was custom-built at your shop."

"Your friend is the owner of that shop? He must be loaded! As far as I know, your shop’s main business is custom-building top-tier, World Tour-level race bikes for wealthy clients, right? You must be making a killing!"

"Brother, what do you do at the shop? That’s an awesome job! You get to mess with bikes at work and then go riding after. So much cooler than us IT grunts!"

Huang Chong hadn’t realized Dewey’s shop was so well-known that all three of them had heard of it. But he had mentioned the shop intentionally, hoping to drum up some business for his friend.

He smiled and replied:

"I’m a mechanic at the shop. But it’s not as exaggerated as you make it sound. We also work on entry-level and second-tier bikes.

For example, with brands like De Rosa or Pinarello, customers can choose their own groupsets, whether it’s a 105 Di2 or an Ultegra Di2. Of course, we have SRAM groupsets too. Even the level of carbon wheels can be chosen according to the customer’s own budget.

Of course, besides custom builds, our shop’s after-sales service is also excellent. If you guys have any minor mechanical failures or shifting problems, you can come to our shop for repairs. As long as it’s not something that requires replacement parts, we do minor repairs for free."

"Whoa, you’re actually a mechanic? You look like you just graduated from college. Is your handiwork really that good?"

Huang Chong could only laugh at this and give a vague answer:

"It’s alright. I’ve been good with my hands since I was a kid, and the structure of a bicycle is pretty simple. You get the hang of it after building a few."

"Alright, since you’re a mechanic, we’ll swing by your shop sometime when we’re free."

"That would be great! Our shop would be honored to welcome you big-shot pros anytime!"

Looking at the three of them, although he couldn’t guess their exact ages from their faces, they were clearly older than him.

So naturally, Huang Chong spoke to them politely. If he could bring some business to Dewey’s shop down the line, it would be the icing on the cake.

When you’re in business, it’s always good to make more friends among your peers.

"Alright, break’s about over. Time to head back. It’ll take another hour and a half to get home!"

After chatting for ten minutes, the group got back on their bikes, ready to return to the city center.

However, on the way back, just as they started riding, someone in the group smiled and suggested to Huang Chong:

"Brother, I gotta say, your individual strength is pretty good. How about you try leading for a stretch? After all, pulling requires a higher power output, and long-distance training is most effective for building endurance when you switch between different heart rate zones."

Huang Chong, of course, knew about this training method of switching between different zones. He wasn’t completely clueless about the theory; he just had to pretend to be.

So he knew very well that what the other rider said was scientifically sound.

He didn’t refuse. After all, he had been drafting off them the whole way, so taking a turn to lead was just common courtesy. He replied readily:

"Of course, no problem. I’ll take a pull for you three. I’ll try to keep the average speed around 30!"

After saying that, Huang Chong suddenly put power into his legs, picked up the pace, and rode to the very front of the group.

But as soon as he started leading, the system’s text appeared before his eyes again:

[Host detected pacemaking for teammates. Please maintain the current average speed for 10km. Reward: 2 Basic Optimization Value points, 1 Rapid Recovery Energy Bar.]

...