Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

After exchanging contact information, Huang Chong chatted with the other three for a while longer. He politely declined their offer to grab some barbecue to refuel, then started cycling back toward Dewey’s house.

He was currently in his fat-loss phase, so barbecue was definitely off-limits.

Wang Qiang told him that the team captain would contact him on WeChat as soon as there was any news, so he could just relax and wait for the result.

By the time he got home, it was already around 9:30 p.m.

The high-intensity ride, which lasted over three consecutive hours and covered a full hundred kilometers, was still too much for Huang Chong at his current level. He had completely reached his physiological limit.

Especially after the effects of the Rapid Recovery Energy Bar wore off, his thighs felt like they were filled with lead. Even walking was now a struggle.

Without a doubt, this was the result of excessive lactic acid buildup from overexertion.

For a normal person, a workout of this intensity would mean being stuck at home resting the next day, unable to go anywhere.

Thankfully, however, he had the Training Recovery Energy Gel. He quickly took one from his inventory and consumed it.

’My thighs are still too weak. If it weren’t for the massive optimization to my FTP Power and cardio, plus the boost from the Energy Bar, I probably would have struggled just to ride 100km in a single day at a Zone 2 heart rate.’

After getting home, Huang Chong didn’t rush to shower. He sat down to rest first, waiting for his heart rate and body temperature to return to normal.

Then, amidst his sighing, he silently called out in his mind:

’End mission!’

[Congratulations! At a stable average speed, you broke the wind for your teammates for a total of 50KM, exceeding the mission requirement by five times. Rewards doubled!]

[Reward Received: 10 Basic Optimization Value points, Rapid Recovery Energy Bar x5]

But just when Huang Chong thought that was the end of the rewards for today’s ride, the system’s text refreshed with new information:

[Congratulations, Host! For completing your first 50KM ride, you have unlocked the ’Cycling Novice’ Honor Badge.]

[Reward Received: All shortcomings +2 points, Training Recovery Energy Gel x5, Rapid Recovery Energy Bar x5]

...

[Congratulations, Host! For completing your first 100KM ride with an average speed of 30KM/H, you have unlocked the ’Amateur Cyclist’ Honor Badge.]

[Reward Received: All shortcomings +5 points, Training Recovery Energy Gel x10, Rapid Recovery Energy Bar x10]

[Note: All Honor Badges can only be unlocked once. Please continue to train hard, Host, and unlock more!]

...

’Whoa, what is this? Unlocking Honor Badges?

And the reward for getting a badge actually adds points to all of my shortcomings at once?’

Huang Chong, who had been exhausted and sitting on a small stool in front of a fan, shot up from his seat the moment he saw these sudden, extra rewards.

He had never imagined that this cheat system would have extra, achievement-like rewards—and such generous ones at that!

But he quickly calmed down when he saw the system’s final note.

The rewards from the Honor Badges were a pleasant surprise, but it was clear that these things were limited, both in how difficult they were to obtain and how many times they could be claimed.

’Completing a 50km and a 100km ride for the first time, both with an average speed of 30, each gets me an Honor Badge—

So what mileage and average speed will I need for the next one?

150km? 200km? Or 300km, 400km?’

Whatever the reward mechanism was, a cyclist couldn’t cover a thousand li in a day. Humans aren’t tireless steeds; the current world record was only 648 kilometers in a single day.

If Honor Badges were unlocked simply by increasing the mileage, Huang Chong could count on one hand how many more he could possibly earn.

’I’ll worry about future Honor Badges later. For now, tonight’s extra gains are a wonderful surprise!’

Huang Chong wasn’t the type to worry needlessly, and his excitement quickly returned.

Not only had the system boosted all his shortcomings by a total of seven points, but it had also rewarded him with 15 Training Recovery Energy Gels and 15 Rapid Recovery Energy Bars.

This stuff was the real deal!

Adding these to his small existing inventory, he could at least guarantee an uninterrupted period of daily training.

Without hesitation, he decisively pulled up the system panel to check his personal stats. He found they had changed dramatically compared to when he first activated the system:

[Host: Huang Chong]

[Weight: 72.3 KG]

[FTP: 192W]

[Cadence: 90]

[Sprinting Burst: 47]

[Car Control Techniques: 38]

[Cornering Ability: 37]

[Terrain Prediction: 41]

[Mental Fortitude: 91]

[Basic Optimization Value: 10]

[Overall Evaluation: When cruising on flat roads, your average speed over one hundred kilometers has reached 30 KM/H. You have become an entry-level amateur cyclist.]

...

’Even though I’m still a long way from the level of a Professional Cyclist, breaking through the beginner’s wall in just three days is still pretty incredible.’

As Huang Chong felt the mysterious changes in his body after the stats were added, he realized that both his cycling instincts and his physical condition had received a significant, imperceptible boost. A wave of satisfaction washed over him.

Only he could truly feel the physical changes. This wasn’t just a simple data update; it was a genuine transformation of his entire body.

’Looks like I need to find time to improve these other shortcomings, too.

But riding on the city greenways, it’s basically all long straights and Daping Roads.

The system doesn’t seem to detect an environment to optimize these shortcomings at all.’

Huang Chong shook his head helplessly:

’For now, it looks like I can only hope that Wang Qiang and the others bring me some good news later.’

If he could successfully join their team and participate in their internal training, their choice of routes with more complex road conditions would likely allow the system to detect different training tasks.

And if the Windward Team didn’t accept him, then he would just find another team in Hangcheng.

In any case, he really needed to move past solo training as soon as possible and join a more systematic and comprehensive team cycling environment. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

After all, for a truly qualified Professional Cyclist, just having powerful legs is nowhere near enough.

Clumsy cornering, a poor Sprinting Burst, and weak Car Control Techniques were all fatal flaws.

If he didn’t improve these shortcomings, others could drop him in an instant on complex terrain, on high-speed descents with a series of turns, or even on dirt, gravel, or cobblestone roads.

Even with the strongest legs in the world, he would never be able to catch up.

After all, in the top UCI World Tour, races like the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and Italy’s Strade Bianche are all known for their treacherous road sections, a hallmark of the classic races.

Without top-tier Car Control Techniques, you’d not only be prone to mechanical failures, but you could also easily take a nasty spill, eating dirt.

For example, it was because of his formidable mountain biking skills that van der Poel of the Alpecin Team was so terrifyingly dominant in the Classics like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.

Of course, Pidcock, who was mentioned earlier, also possesses formidable mountain biking skills, which is how he achieves such extreme cornering speeds on descents.

So, for Huang Chong, it was just as important to comprehensively optimize and address all his shortcomings as it was to increase his FTP Power.

He waited for his heart rate and body temperature to cool down, took a shower, and washed his cycling kit. Just as he was in the kitchen making himself a fat-loss meal, his phone, sitting on the coffee table in the living room, buzzed with a WeChat message from Wang Qiang.