Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Huang Chong was ecstatic.

It wasn’t because the race had gone exactly according to his pace and plan, allowing him to win the championship with ease.

Nor was it because he had won the substantial 28,888 prize.

Well, winning the prize money was certainly something to be happy about, but not enough to make him ecstatic.

The reason for his ecstasy was simple: as he stared intently at the system’s reward notification, he realized the unit for the new electrolyte functional drink in his daily gift pack was "cases," not "bottles"!

’Fifty cases? Am I seeing this right?’

After crossing the finish line, Huang Chong didn’t stop riding. Instead, he shifted to an easier gear and continued forward at a Zone 1 cool-down pace.

This was to flush out the excess lactic acid buildup in his body—part of the muscle recovery process.

Although he now had an abundance of supplies, enough to last him the next few months, he always stuck to the principle of saving whenever he could.

Besides, the intensity of today’s ride didn’t even compare to the single HC Level climb up Taizi Peak they did last week when Zhang Yi led them on the Tour of Zhejiang Western Sky Road.

He hadn’t even had his fill. He felt like the race had ended just as he was getting into his rhythm, so there was no need to use a Training Recovery Energy Gel.

Huang Chong descended from the finish line all the way to the foot of the mountain. After that, it was a long, flat stretch of road with no more climbs.

This kind of terrain was perfect for a cool-down, and it also gave him plenty of leisure time to inspect the contents of his system’s storage space.

The result was just as the system’s message had indicated. A veritable mountain of the so-called electrolyte functional sports drink was piled up in his storage space.

A full 50 cases. Each case had 8 bottles, each bottle 500ml, for a total of 400 bottles.

’Holy crap, this system is too generous! With this gift pack, does this mean I won’t even need to bring a water bottle on rides anymore? No more mixing electrolyte powders or choking down those god-awful salt pills?’

After confirming that he had indeed received 50 cases of the functional drink, Huang Chong immediately decided to take one out and taste it.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, the system prompted him again:

[To ensure more convenient use for the Host, would you like to have the beverage directly refilled into your cycling water bottle?]

...

Huang Chong’s expression froze when he saw the prompt, but he immediately understood why the system was offering this option.

In the professional circuit, riders are under the constant scrutiny of referees and broadcast directors with their cameras.

This was especially true for star riders, as the eyes of cycling fans worldwide would be focused solely on these top-tier athletes.

If the system provided him with an unknown functional drink on his bike frame, it would inevitably spark discussions among fans with a keen eye for detail.

’What’s that stuff he’s drinking?’

’Is it some shady concoction? A special blend with performance-enhancing drugs?’

Once such speculation started, it would inevitably lead to a torrent of rumors.

The system had already assured him that none of its items would be detected as containing prohibited substances by any existing doping tests.

But in the face of rumors, sometimes even if it’s just mud in your shorts, everyone will call it shit.

So the best solution was to avoid creating a topic for discussion in the first place.

By offering to automatically fill his cycling bottle, the system had provided the perfect solution to this problem.

He could even use the plain water from his team-issued bottles to splash on himself for cooling down, leaving the empty bottles to be refilled with the system’s drink. The very thought was exciting.

Without a second thought, Huang Chong emptied the cycling bottle on his bike frame. It just so happened to be a 500ml bottle. Then, he replied in his mind:

"Yes, please refill the beverage directly into my cycling water bottle."

[Setting complete. The Host may change the refill method at any time via mental command. Refill complete.]

...

Seeing the notification, Huang Chong was very pleased to find that the cycling bottle he had just emptied was indeed refilled in an instant with some kind of orange liquid.

’This system is so smart. Not only did it proactively eliminate a potential landmine that could cause a media circus, but it also considered that if I forget my bottle one day, it could provide the drink in its original packaging based on my choice.’

He took a sip from the bottle and found it had a light orange flavor. It was slightly sweet, slightly sour, and had a salty aftertaste—a complex flavor profile.

It tasted great, like an orange Gatorade, but also a bit like old-school Jianlibao.

But the difference was that this drink wasn’t harsh at all. It wasn’t carbonated, the texture was incredibly smooth, and all the flavors were perfectly balanced.

Most importantly, when Huang Chong finished his cool-down and rode back to the finish line, he noticed that unlike normal sugary drinks, it didn’t cause his mouth to produce a lot of saliva afterward.

Clearly, this stuff didn’t contain high-calorie sucrose. Its sweetness came purely from fresh orange juice and other sugar substitutes, making it a healthy, low-fat functional beverage.

"What was the race result? Who won in the end?"

At the finish line, the four domestiques who had been dropped by Huang Chong also reached the summit one by one not long after.

But when they asked Little Mili, who was waiting at the finish line after driving up ahead to record the final results, they received a wry response:

"General Manager Du’s friend won, but only by a bike length. He beat General Manager Zhou in the sprint!"

For the four domestiques, this news was a bolt from the blue.

They glanced over at Zhou Ming, who was already resting under a makeshift sunshade. Their sponsor’s face was expressionless, looking as wilted as a frosted eggplant. ’We’re so screwed,’ they thought.

But could it be said that they hadn’t given their all to protect Zhou Ming and help him win the championship?

Not at all.

Every one of them had squeezed out their last drop of energy to respond to Huang Chong’s four consecutive attacks.

Without their chase, Zhou Ming wouldn’t have even had the chance to drag it out to a final sprint with his rival; he would have been left behind in a solo breakaway long ago.

But the result was set in stone, and there was no point in rehashing it.

Their sponsor had been defeated. Knowing Zhou Ming’s personality, he was unlikely to listen to any explanations.

So, in that moment, they pretty much resigned themselves to being kicked to the curb by Zhou Ming. They would lose their cushy gig and have no choice but to slink back to their respective homes and continue working at bike shops.

"We can only blame ourselves for not being strong enough. Even giving it our all, we couldn’t secure the win for General Manager Zhou!" one of them couldn’t help but sigh.

"Sigh... We thought that with General Manager Zhou setting up this stage and us providing a lead-out for him the whole way, the championship was in the bag. We did manage to drop General Manager Du early on, but who knew he would bring a Climber..." another lamented dejectedly.

"Say what you will, but that kid, Huang, is a damn strong climber. He launched four attacks on the climb, dropping one of us with each attack, almost as if it was all part of a pre-planned strategy. And he still had the energy to out-sprint General Manager Zhou at the end. He’s a climbing monster!"

"I wonder where this master came from? With his strength, he could definitely be the core GC leader of any amateur team. It’s strange that we’ve never even heard of him. We ride so many events, and we know people in all the major Hangcheng teams. What team do you guys think he’s on?"

"Who knows? But does it even matter?"

Seeing his companions still had the energy to wonder about Huang Chong’s background, one of them said self-deprecatingly:

"We should be thinking about how to face General Manager Zhou’s wrath!"

Just as they were bracing themselves for their sponsor’s scolding, a tardy Dewey finally crossed the finish line, nearly twenty minutes after Huang Chong, his face as red as a peach from the effort.

Afterward, Dewey heard the final result from Little Mili. When he found out that Huang Chong had actually pipped Zhou Ming at the post to take the championship, he was so out of breath he could barely stand, but he didn’t even pause to recover. He rushed over to the resting Zhou Ming and burst out laughing:

"So, you tried to be clever and it blew up in your face, huh, Brother Zhou?

You’re a sneaky bastard, setting up so many climbs just to screw me over.

Too bad for you, man proposes, but God disposes! You didn’t expect my brother to be a Climber, did you? HAHAHA!

You brought a whole squad, five against one, and you all still got dropped by my brother. Do you even know how to ride a bike?"

Zhou Ming heard Dewey’s loud, thunderous taunts and was absolutely fuming, but he had no way to refute them.

In competitive sports, losing the race means you’re trash. It’s the original sin.

What else could he say?