Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

In his two lives combined, Huang Chong knew nothing about the Provincial Games, which were held once every four years.

In his previous life, he was an ordinary person, and such events were far too removed from his world.

However, after confirming his participation, he quickly received the competition materials from Chen Junyi and discovered that the road cycling portion consisted of eight events.

He automatically skipped the events that didn’t involve him, finally confirming that he was scheduled for the last event on the first competition day and the last event on the third competition day.

First was the 30km individual time trial, followed by the 80km road race.

As for the starting order in the ITT, he was scheduled to go last because he was a reserve rider from the provincial team. This was good news.

After all, in an individual time trial, each cyclist starts alone, with riders setting off at three-minute intervals.

This meant that the last rider to start could get real-time results for all the opponents ahead of them through radio updates on their times.

The race route was a fully closed main road in a certain county.

The one-way course was 20km long, consisting mainly of Daping Road, with some short, rolling sections. However, the maximum gradient was only 2.5%, which qualified as a very gentle slope.

"Don’t put too much pressure on yourself for this competition. Just do your best and show what you’ve accomplished in your training.

After all, you’ve only been training for three short months. If you can show improvement from your initial assessment when you joined the team, that’ll be mission accomplished.

As for medals, winning one would be great, of course, but that’s not the primary objective.

What I really want to see is whether your actual skill level meets the requirements for a full-fledged member of the provincial team.

If it does, I’ll inform Director Zhang about making your position official. Then you’ll be able to participate in the team’s internal selection trials.

The top eight riders will join the team at the National Road Cycling Championships in December. That should be your real goal.

If you achieve good results at the national level, or even win a gold medal, you won’t just have a chance to be selected for the National Team and gain better experience; you’ll also very likely attract the attention of an Intercontinental Team.

You know as well as I do that for a professional Road Cyclist, the only way forward is to join an Intercontinental Team and compete in more UCI-sanctioned events!"

Chen Junyi didn’t seem to mind or feel offended that Huang Chong had grabbed her hand in his excitement. Instead, she just gave the back of his hand a reassuring pat.

Her words were reasonable. Although she knew from his daily training data that his cycling skills had improved, training was one thing, and competition was another.

She had seen it countless times before—athletes who showed great competitive potential in training but couldn’t deliver during an actual race.

Because race results involved honor and prize money, some people were spurred to perform above and beyond, while others crumbled under the psychological pressure and delivered disappointing outcomes.

It was worth mentioning that Huang Chong was only able to participate in the Provincial Games because the provincial team had adopted the UCI’s U23 model for road cycling, creating a special category for it.

At 22 years old, he was competing right at the edge of the age limit.

In contrast, other sports like basketball and soccer required participants to be under 18, making them events exclusively for high school students.

The Provincial Games itself was, by nature, a large-scale sporting event aimed at high schoolers. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

That was why the road cycling event was divided into Group A and Group B. Group A had longer race distances with an age requirement of 18 to 23, while Group B was for ages 15 to 18.

After Chen Junyi finished speaking, Huang Chong had nothing to add. He just nodded and said,

"I understand. I’ll do my best."

...

"Hey, did you guys hear? That new guy who showed up a few months ago is supposedly competing in the Provincial Games."

"Yeah, I heard. These rich kids are so damn annoying. They’re everywhere. Even our provincial team can’t avoid these privileged brats using connections to get in. We all had to get good results in the Provincial Games to make it here, but this guy? He’s doing it backwards—"

"Is the kid really that rich? Are we sure he’s one of them?"

"What do you think? If he weren’t a rich kid, could he afford two Lightning S-Works bikes?"

"Good point. I even looked up his bikes. Together they’re worth almost 200,000. Tsk, 200,000! We bust our asses on this team all year, and even with all our subsidies and prize money, we probably couldn’t afford his two bikes!"

"The most infuriating part is, the kid’s skills are mediocre, but he’s got a huge ego. The higher-ups even assigned him a private, one-on-one female coach. When do guys like us, who got onto this team purely on the power of our legs, get that kind of treatment?"

"In your dreams, buddy. That woman graduated from a top university overseas. They’re not assigning him a coach; they’re practically matchmaking!"

"Seriously. I see them training together, eating together, even going to the supermarket together. The only thing they haven’t done is move into the same dorm room and get married!"

...

After finishing his training for the day, Huang Chong returned to his dorm only to hear the familiar sounds of gossip drifting from the room next door.

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard such talk, but he’d always been too lazy to bother with it.

’Gossip is just human nature, after all.’

Although these official Road Cyclists of the provincial team never used names, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew they were talking about him and Chen Junyi.

In fact, Huang Chong sometimes felt they were doing it on purpose for him to overhear, with their rumors growing more outrageous each time.

It was too much of a coincidence that they always started talking right when he returned from training.

They didn’t even bother to close their door, and their voices were loud—it was getting more and more blatant!

But with the competition tomorrow, Huang Chong thought it over and decided it was time to go over and set the record straight about his background.

He walked over to the neighboring dorm with a deceptively pleasant smile, rapping on the door with his middle finger. When all the startled eyes inside turned to him, he didn’t enter, simply leaning against the doorframe and addressing them directly.

"Gentlemen, I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not some rich kid.

Just like you, I got onto the provincial team with the power of my legs. Whether you choose to believe that is up to you.

As for my two road bikes, they were, in fact, a gift from a friend who happens to be a rich kid.

And as for my relationship with Assistant Chen, it’s not as complicated as you imagine. For now, at least, it’s strictly student and coach.

As for the future... well, that’s hard to say. After all, as the old saying goes, the one closest to the action gets the prize, right?

If Assistant Chen and I do end up tying the knot, it would be a wonderful thing. When that day comes, I’ll be sure to invite you all to the wedding banquet to thank you for your well-wishes.

Before that happens, though, you might want to worry more about your own cycling performance. I heard the Provincial Games is where the management specifically looks for new talent and prodigies.

If a few good prospects actually show up... well, there are only so many spots on the provincial team.

This is a government-funded team, and spots are limited, gentlemen. It’s one spot per person.

Aren’t you worried your spot will be taken by the new wave?"

Having delivered his tirade, Huang Chong didn’t wait for a reply. He simply turned and walked away, leaving them all seething and grinding their teeth in anger.

"Fuck! That kid’s so damn arrogant! He actually came right to our door to taunt us!"

"What was he trying to say? That he’s going to prove he’s not just some spoiled brat by getting good results at the Provincial Games and taking our spots on the team?"

"Listen to him talk. A pretty boy like that? In a 100-kilometer race, I could give him a ten-kilometer head start. And he thinks he’s going to take my secure spot on this team? Dream on!"

"If he manages to win a medal this time—no, if he even cracks the top five, I’ll eat my hat!"

...