Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Nobody’s perfect.

When the Creator made humanity, He must have left everyone with their own set of shortcomings. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

In Chen Junyi’s eyes, her father had doted on her since she was a little girl, to an almost absurd degree.

For instance, if she tripped over a rock and fell as a child, her father would look like he wanted to dig up that rock and tear it to shreds.

But even so, from her adult perspective, her father was not without his flaws.

For example, his somewhat old-fashioned thinking and overbearing paternalism were among his weaknesses.

She definitely couldn’t agree with her father’s latest point of view.

But as an adult, especially one who had grown up showered with her father’s kindness and protection, she was unwilling to directly defy him, oppose his ideas, and create a tense, confrontational atmosphere between them.

As the saying goes: Of all virtues, filial piety comes first.

True filial piety is to skillfully carry on the ambitions of one’s predecessors and properly recount their deeds.

In the eyes of Confucius, true filial piety was never about blind, 100% obedience, following an elder’s wishes without a shred of personal will, regardless of right or wrong.

Confucius’s original intention was that the younger generation must first determine if their elders are on the right path.

If they are mistaken, one should gently correct them.

If they are correct, then one should build upon their foundation, inheriting and promoting their wishes, and carrying on the best of their legacy.

Her father’s intentions were, of course, good. He simply hoped she would contribute her small part to China’s sporting world.

But within that expectation, for him to rank different sports, creating a hierarchy, was definitely wrong.

Chen Junyi fell silent for a long moment, carefully composing her thoughts, before smiling at Chen Mingyuan and saying:

"Dad, you know I never want to argue with you.

I also know that everything you’re saying is ultimately for my own good, hoping I’ll have better prospects for my future.

But did you know, while you were raising and educating me, I read a short story in a book that had a profound impact on me.

It was about a person named Xi Yuan who, during a class, asked Mr. Yang Ming:

’An ordinary person can reach the realm of a sage through study, but there are still differences in talent between sages like Bo Yi, Yi Yin, and Confucius.

So why are they all called sages?’

Mr. Yang Ming replied:

’Sages are called sages because their spirits are pure and clean, like gold that has been refined of impurities like copper and lead.

The talents of sages certainly vary in magnitude, just as gold can vary in weight.

But what people should be concerned with is cultivating their own spirit to the purity of gold. Then, even if you place 500g of gold next to 10,000g of gold, its quality is the same.

That is why people place Bo Yi and Yi Yin in the same category as Confucius. They are all sages.

Dad, I admit that road cycling’s influence in our country right now can’t compare to mainstream sports like basketball and soccer. But we can’t forget that at their core, they are all sports.

And the meaning of sports, like that pure gold, is to inspire people to strive, to encourage them to love exercise, strengthen their bodies, and stay healthy!

Besides, did you know? In the last two years, road cycling has absolutely exploded in popularity among the public in our country.

The major bicycle manufacturers are working day and night to produce their products, but they still can’t keep up with demand.

I think it’s precisely because people in our country have fallen in love with this sport that we must, at this critical moment, introduce the culture of professional road cycling, allowing more people to understand the culture of high-level competitive riding.

Only then can we close the gap with the powerhouses in Europe, right?

Besides, you mentioned soccer and basketball. They may be influential, but precisely because they’re mainstream sports, isn’t the amount of high-level talent involved already immense?

Do you really think that losing one daughter from that pool will make any fundamental difference?"

Chen Mingyuan was speechless.

He’d started out as an athlete, a rough-around-the-edges type who had relied on physical talent in a career that depended on youth.

His results were good, so he received national training and picked up a bit of an education along the way.

But with his limited literary knowledge, how could he possibly understand Chen Junyi’s analogy?

His wife, Zhang Wanqing, on the other hand, came from a proper scholarly family in Hangcheng and was a woman of considerable literary talent.

Seeing her husband silenced by their daughter, she chuckled teasingly and said,

"Hit a wall, haven’t you? Realize you haven’t read enough books?

What our daughter means is that you, you stubborn old man, are being dense. You shouldn’t be dividing sports into ’mainstream’ and ’niche’—aren’t they all just sports?

Sports are supposed to encourage people to stay fit and healthy and get more people involved.

Only when participation is high will there be a large enough talent pool to enter the professional scene."

Chen Mingyuan understood this time, but he just glared and said huffily,

"It’s all well and good to have that kind of passion, but we have to think about our daughter’s future, don’t we?

There’s one fundamental problem with road cycling: can you even make a living from it?

You can’t just live on ideals and completely ignore reality. You have to care about having a financial foundation, right?

How is our daughter going to feed and clothe herself in the future?

We’re going to get old before she does. We can’t support her for her entire life, can we?"

Chen Mingyuan looked at Chen Junyi, his face etched with worry, and continued,

"Junyi, my dear, let me just ask you this. If you pour a huge amount of effort into road cycling, will you get a proportional return in the future?