Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

In any sport, racing is where the demands on an individual’s strength—and the display of that strength—are most apparent.

Whether it’s cycling, running, or swimming, you can see exactly what an athlete is made of with your own two eyes.

While road cycling is technically a team sport, it’s nothing like soccer or basketball.

A top-tier midfielder can set up a teammate for a perfect one-on-one with the goalie, or a star point guard can deliver a pass for a wide-open layup. If the teammate then shanks the shot wide or clanks the dunk off the rim, you can’t say the midfielder or point guard played poorly.

But road cycling is a different story.

If a Core Commander’s support riders have burned themselves out to escort him into a winning position, but he ultimately gets outsprinted by another team’s leader and suffers a bitter defeat, it’s purely a matter of his own strength failing him. There’s no arguing that.

Zhou Ming was a veteran road cycling enthusiast and watched plenty of professional races, so he wasn’t about to miss this point.

The hired riders he’d brought along had already pushed themselves to their limits. It was his own failure to beat Huang Chong on the climb, and he knew it.

Still, hearing Dewey’s taunts stung. He couldn’t argue the fact that he’d lost to Huang Chong—that would just make him look petty and sound like he was making excuses. But what right did Dewey have to talk?

The guy had been dropped early on and crossed the finish line over twenty minutes after him.

To still have the nerve to mock anyone after a performance like that... The sheer shamelessness of it left Zhou Ming speechless.

"Old Du, you’ve got a real annoying mouth on you sometimes. But I lost, and I’ll own it. Have your buddy give his WeChat info to Little Mili. I’ll transfer the prize money directly to him."

With that, Zhou Ming waved a dismissive hand, done with Dewey. He swung a leg over his Canyon road bike, turned it around, and started heading back toward the hotel.

Seeing their patron about to leave, the four hired riders exchanged glances. After a moment’s thought, they decided to follow, once again taking the lead for Zhou Ming.

They hadn’t gotten the chewing out they expected, but Zhou Ming also hadn’t said he was done riding with them.

If their patron had no intention of firing them, and they just took off on their own, that would be shooting themselves in the foot.

"Brother Zhou, we didn’t perform well today. It’s our fault—" one of the hired riders began cautiously on the ride back.

They were prepared for a tongue-lashing; after all, Zhou Ming wasn’t known for his pleasant temper.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, Zhou Ming seemed remarkably calm. He simply asked in return:

"So, you all think you didn’t perform well?

"Am I to understand that you underestimated our opponent during the race?

"Or maybe you were intentionally holding back?"

The question left the four men speechless.

There was no right way to answer that.

By stepping up to take the blame, they had already twisted the reality of the situation.

Seeing their silence, Zhou Ming didn’t press the issue. He just let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"If it wasn’t your fault, then don’t try to take the blame.

"I know you all gave it your best. The truth is, Huang Chong’s climbing ability is just far superior to mine.

"Old Du might be abrasive, but he has a habit of telling the truth.

"I set up this climbing stage to get one over on him, and I beat him soundly. But as a competitor, I also have to face the fact that I lost to his friend.

"I really didn’t expect it. That kid is a beast on the climbs. No wonder he talks so big about wanting to become a Professional Cyclist.

"Tell me, at his current level, if he improved just a bit more, do you think he really has a shot at joining a provincial team or a pro team? Becoming a real Professional Cyclist?"

Hearing this, the four hired riders knew their patron wasn’t angry with them.

It was an unexpected turn of events, and they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

’If nothing else, at least our jobs are safe!’

One of them thought for a moment. Instead of trying to curry favor by bad-mouthing Huang Chong, he gave an honest analysis based on the ride.

"Brother Zhou, if you’re asking for my opinion, I think it would be very difficult for him.

"Huang Chong is a strong climber, exceptionally strong for an amateur even, but his descending and flat-road capabilities are pretty average.

"We all got dropped by him on the climb, but if we could have just hung on, we would’ve been able to catch him on the other side.

"A Professional Cyclist needs to be a more well-rounded rider. The pro races here in China are mostly flat. It’s rare to see a World Tour-style high-mountain stage with four or five thousand meters of climbing over one or two hundred kilometers.

"If he can’t even hang with the peloton’s average speed on the flats, then what good is his climbing power? He’ll never get a chance to use it.

"You could say he’s a specialist, but that’s it."

"I agree. Huang Chong is a strong climber, but his weaknesses are just as obvious. He has a poor sprint, and it looks like he’s constantly trying to cut weight, which is not a very scientific approach.

"When he was attacking out of the saddle earlier, I took a good look at him. His legs and core are solid, but his upper body strength is seriously lacking.

"He has almost no chest or back muscles, which means he lacks explosive power for a sprint.

"If he doesn’t start specific strength training for his upper body soon and just keeps cutting weight, I think he’ll never be more than what we are: just guys messing around on amateur teams."

As Zhou Ming listened to his men’s analysis, his eyes narrowed, and a fierce glint appeared in them.

He had only asked about Huang Chong becoming a pro as a passing thought, but now, hearing all this detailed analysis, a new idea began to form.

"So, if you all think the kid’s cruising and sprinting on the flats are so bad... what if I challenged him to another race? A hundred kilometers on a flat course. Could I absolutely destroy him?"

The question was met with another long silence from the four riders.

To be honest, it was a difficult question to answer.

If Zhou Ming lost again, they’d never hear the end of it.

It was impossible to make a perfectly accurate judgment of Huang Chong’s true abilities.

Not unless he spelled it out himself, and didn’t lie.

And what Road Cyclist would ever reveal their true stats?

That would be like handing your opponents the playbook to beat you.

Take the recent Tour de France, for example. How did the ’Martian’ Pogačar lose?

They had watched the race. They knew it was because the Jumbo Team had a more comprehensive strategy, wearing Pogačar down with wave after wave of attacks until he finally cracked.

"Don’t worry about it. I don’t get offended that easily. Just say what you think."

Seeing his men’s hesitation, Zhou Ming added this to reassure them.

Thus, after receiving his "Immunity Token," one of the riders finally spoke up.

"I think it should be doable.

"Brother Zhou, flat roads are your specialty anyway. Plus, that kid is on an entry-level Giant TCR. On aerodynamics alone, your bike demolishes his.

"So winning shouldn’t be a huge problem."

"Good. Then for the next week, you guys are going to help me train my flat-road cruising power. Next weekend, I’m challenging that kid to a rematch. I’m taking back the victory I lost today!"

Zhou Ming’s confidence suddenly returned, and he made his decision with vicious determination.

At that very moment, Huang Chong, who had just made it back to the finish area, had no idea Zhou Ming was already planning a rematch on the flats.

If he had, he would have laughed out loud.

It was true he couldn’t pull away on the descents, but you don’t need much power for that. Anyone can coast along at fifty or sixty kilometers per hour.

But cruising on the flats still required power from the legs.

And after securing his first victory, his FTP Power had received another 15-point boost. It was now at 263W, with a Power-to-Weight Ratio even exceeding 4.0.

With a Power-to-Weight Ratio that high, couldn’t he easily maintain an average speed of over 40 km/h on the flats? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

What made Zhou Ming and his crew think the aerodynamic advantage of a Canyon race machine would be enough to beat him?

Of course, even if Huang Chong had known, he wouldn’t have cared.

He knew Zhou Ming’s FTP Power maxed out below 200W.

The gap between their abilities was massive.

After he added Little Mili on WeChat, she immediately sent him the prize money from Zhou Ming: 28,888 yuan.

Not a single yuan short, and it was all post-tax.