Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Huang Chong was quite surprised that the system registered the group ride organized by Zhou Ming as the first race of his cycling career.

’Then again, considering the difficulty of the previous missions, it made sense. Was the system afraid it would take too long for him to get his first win if he went straight into an official amateur race?’

In any case, now that the system had issued a mission, he had to give it his all, even if it wasn’t for the prize money.

points of Basic Optimization Value, plus a "Daily Training Gift Pack"—its contents a mystery—was far more appealing than the 28,888 prize.

After all, the Energy Bars and Energy Gels the system had rewarded him with before were top-quality items you just couldn’t buy on the market.

Meanwhile, the Energy Gels you could actually buy on the market cost over ten yuan a pop.

If he had to pay for these "supplements" out of pocket for daily training, the cost would be pretty steep for him right now.

"Old Du, I’ll lead out. You just stick to my wheel!"

Less than 3km after the race began, they hit the first climb.

Dewey, who had been talking big before the race, turned a shade of purplish-red the moment he faced the climb. The intensity had been cranked to the max right from the start.

Zhou Ming had clearly set up this course to cause trouble, deliberately choosing the section with the most climbs.

The standard Tour of Qiandao Lake route is mostly flat. The full 137km course has only six short climbs in total.

The last five of those climbs are concentrated within a mere 50km stretch, between the 63km and 113km marks of the official course.

However, Zhou Ming had singled out that specific 50km section to be today’s race course.

The most difficult part was the third climb of this new course: a long, gradual ascent composed of three consecutive hills. He had also set the finish line at the very summit of the final climb.

So, in a way, Zhou Ming had taken what was officially a mostly flat section of the Tour of Qiandao Lake and turned this "half-tour" into a rolling, hilly course focused on climbing.

For a World Tour Cyclist, a course this difficult wouldn’t even be enough to make them pause for a sip of water. They could crush it with just a few powerful pedal strokes.

But for an amateur rider like Dewey, who wasn’t exactly diligent about his training, his heart rate had already shot up to his Zone 4 threshold after just the first short hill—a small climb from 157 to 189 meters with a mere 2% gradient. He was already panting heavily.

"Damn it, that bastard Zhou is definitely targeting me.

We’ve only been riding for a few minutes and there’s already a climb.

Plus, they immediately pushed the pace to an average of over 30 km/h. They’re trying to drop me right from the start!"

As Huang Chong led him up the first climb and they began to descend, Dewey could finally catch his breath.

But on that first short climb alone, they had been dropped by Zhou Ming’s five-man group, falling behind by several dozen meters.

And that was with Huang Chong deliberately slowing his pace to match Dewey’s power output, breaking the wind and waiting for him.

Otherwise, he would have been dropped right away into the group behind them, soft-pedaling with a bunch of rich guys who had no competitive spirit and were just there to enjoy the Qiandao Lake scenery.

Huang Chong didn’t know what to say. He was pacing Dewey at an average speed of 32 km/h and felt absolutely no pressure.

His FTP Power had already reached nearly 250W.

Riding at under 200W was basically a Zone 1 warm-up for him.

He glanced at his system’s bike computer. His heart rate was only around 120 bpm, right between Zone 1 and Zone 2.

It was clear that the difference in strength between him and Dewey was now night and day.

Immediately after the short descent, the second climb was upon them.

This climb was also easy—an ascent from 168 to 195 meters, with a gradient of around 3%.

But Dewey struggled immensely even on this short climb.

Huang Chong had to drop their average speed below 20 km/h just to keep his friend from getting dropped.

Meanwhile, the riders in Zhou Ming’s group maintained a very steady pace, carrying their leader along at an average climbing speed of over 20 km/h. In the blink of an eye, they had pulled almost 100 meters ahead of them.

"It’s over. That punk Zhou Ming must have been secretly putting in extra training. Old Huang, I’m not feeling it today. I don’t think I can catch them!"

Dewey watched his rival pull further and further away. He gritted his teeth and barely made it over the second short hill. As Huang Chong led him down the descent, trying to close the gap to Zhou Ming’s team, Dewey started to panic.

’It’s all my fault. I’ve been staying up all night playing games and haven’t trained enough—’

’And now, the moment the intensity ramped up, my heart and lungs feel like they’re going to explode.’

There was nothing Huang Chong could do. He was already doing everything he could by leading out and breaking the wind for Dewey, which had already saved his friend a huge amount of energy.

The wind was especially strong this morning; if Dewey hadn’t been drafting behind him, Zhou Ming’s group would have left him completely out of sight by now.

"So what’s the plan? I can increase our average speed to catch them, but if I up my power output, you won’t be able to keep up.

Besides, the triple climb is coming up, passing through Ganwu Village, Xiejia Village, and Chen Family Village.

The gradual slope at Xiejia Village is especially long—2km with a max gradient of 5%. If I push the pace too hard now, you’ll collapse before we even finish the triple climb!"

Dewey was miserable. He was never good at climbing to begin with, and thanks to his overly indulgent diet, his weight was now approaching 80 kg.

He could manage on the flats and downhills, but when it came to climbs, he basically died on every incline.

So, as he watched Zhou Ming’s group pull farther and farther away, he weighed his options, gritted his teeth, and decided to throw his pride out the window.

If things kept on like this, Huang Chong would be dropped along with him, and it would be a total loss.

So, without further hesitation, he made a decisive call:

"Old Huang, forget about me! Go solo and chase after Zhou Ming’s group.

If they pull any further ahead, we’ll lose sight of them completely, and it’ll be impossible to catch up.

The whole race is only 50km. We’re not even halfway there. If you push it, you should be able to catch them.

My pride is in your hands now. You have to save my ass—!"

Huang Chong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Dewey’s defeatist plea.

The guy was great, but sometimes his pride made him suffer needlessly.

It was a classic case of the bigger the trash talk before the race, the more pathetic the performance during it.

Of course, Dewey had indeed been set up by Zhou Ming, who knew he was a weak climber and had deliberately picked the most difficult 50km stretch for the race.

"Alright then. I’ll go after them. You just slow down and take it easy.

Once you get past Ganwu Village on the triple climb, there should be a mid-race aid station.

You can grab a sports drink like Mizone or Gatorade there to replenish your energy.

I’m off, then. See you at the finish line!"

"Go! You have to win, Old Huang! Otherwise, that bastard Zhou Ming will be shitting all over us from now on!!!"

With a shout from Dewey, Huang Chong shifted to a smaller cog on his cassette. Stomping on the pedals in the big chainring to maintain a cadence over 90, he instantly boosted his average speed to 40 km/h.

Dewey, who had just fallen back a bit, watched in utter disbelief as Huang Chong, now unleashed, shot away like a rocket and vanished into the distance. He was completely dumbfounded:

"Holy shit, has this kid been injecting his thighs with steroids?

We haven’t ridden together for ten days—how did he get this strong?

What’s his average speed right now?

km/h?"