Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Huang Chong was stunned to see that his choice to ride home had actually triggered a new reward.

’This system is surprisingly thoughtful. It’s even giving me an early New Year’s gift?’

A glance at his personal stats panel put him in a great mood.

Two of his stats had already surpassed 80 points.

[Host: Huang Chong]

[Weight: 65kg]

[FTP: 355W]

[Cadence: 93]

[Sprinting Burst: 81]

[Car Control Techniques: 82]

[Cornering Ability: 77]

[Terrain Prediction: 46]

[Mental Fortitude: 92]

[Basic Optimization Value: 0]

[Overall Assessment: On flat road cruises, your average speed over 100 km has reached 50 km/h. You are extremely close to the level of a Mid-level Professional Cyclist. Keep up the good work!]

...

’An average speed of 50 km/h over 100 kilometers... that’s really not easy to achieve.

At my current level, there’s still a considerable gap between me and the top cyclists, but at least I can keep up with a World Tour Team’s cruising speed on flat roads.’

Huang Chong was quite satisfied with this result.

His current FTP Power was a significant threshold.

It was the dividing line between Asian and European cyclists.

It wasn’t that domestic first-tier cyclists couldn’t ride at this speed.

But to consistently follow World Tour Cyclists in a multi-day race and maintain a speed of 50 km/h was something they just couldn’t do.

Take the Tour of Guangxi, for example. It has six stages in total: five flat stages and only one high-mountain stage.

But the National Team members invited to compete each year could usually only hang on for the first two or three days.

Once the race entered its latter half, they would inevitably be dropped on the flat stages by the World Tour Teams, who maintained a steady cruising speed of around 50 km/h.

Of course, this was directly related to the intensity level of domestic races.

Compared to the traditional circuits in Europe, the difficulty of domestic races was much, much lower.

The Tour of Guangxi, at least, wasn’t even as difficult as China’s other two Pro Level events: the Tour of Hainan and the Tour of Qinghai.

Besides the stat boosts, Huang Chong was also overjoyed by the huge pile of daily training supplies the system had rewarded him with.

He had already used up most of the previous batch of supplies for training and races.

He had been worrying that a lack of supplies would affect his high-intensity training, but the system had come through with a timely pre-New Year’s gift package.

As for the final item, the Strengthening and Purifying Pill, it didn’t seem to have any practical use.

It seemed more like an easter-egg reward from the system, a deliberate gift for his hard work over the past half-year, specifically for his family reunion.

However, after joining the provincial team, Huang Chong’s personal habits had already been completely transformed under Chen Junyi’s strict guidance.

So even with the pill as a safety net, he had no intention of overindulging during the Spring Festival.

As a professional athlete, he still needed to maintain some self-control.

One indulgence would inevitably lead to a second, and a third...

"Bro!!!"

"You’re finally back!"

"Didn’t you say on the phone that you were leaving Hangcheng at nine this morning? How come you’re only getting home at four in the afternoon? I’ve been waiting forever—"

"Huh? What’s with the getup? You didn’t ride your bike all the way from Hangcheng, did you?"

Just as Huang Chong pushed his bike to the bottom of his apartment building and was about to head upstairs, a whirlwind of a figure came dashing down the stairwell and stopped right in front of him.

Who else could it be but his cousin, Huang Lingshan.

"Holy crap, are you crazy, bro? We all know you’re a Professional Cyclist now, but surely you’re not so broke you can’t afford the travel fare, right?

It’s at least two or three hundred kilometers from Hangcheng! You can’t even afford a high-speed train ticket, so you had to ride your bike back?

If Uncle and Aunt find out you’ve ended up in this sorry state, they’ll never let you be a cyclist. You’d be better off just getting a factory job!"

The mischievous Huang Lingshan was taken aback by Huang Chong’s travel-worn appearance and immediately started roasting him.

Huang Chong was incredibly close with his cousin, so he knew she was just being her usual cheeky self.

He curled his finger and gave her a light rap on the head, feigning anger as he said irritably:

"What nonsense are you talking about? Can’t you wish your big brother some good fortune for once? Even with all the delicious New Year’s food, there’s no stopping that big mouth of yours!"

Afterward, they went home together.

When his mother, Liang Xiaomei, saw that he had cycled back, she was also greatly surprised. Her first reaction was to ask him the same thing:

"Are you out of money? Why would you ride your bike all the way back in this cold weather!"

Huang Chong looked completely exasperated. Caught between laughter and tears, he replied:

"Mom, how could I be so broke I can’t even afford a train ticket?

Being an athlete is hard work. I have to cycle over a hundred kilometers for training every day with the team.

Besides, it’s not that far from Hangcheng—only 260 kilometers. So I figured I’d just ride back and count it as my daily training."

"Is that really it? Then where’s your luggage? You said you were transferring to some professional team in Shanghai after the New Year and leaving the provincial team. Why did you come back empty-handed?"

Huang Chong had already prepared an excuse for this. He said,

"I left all my daily necessities at a classmate’s place in Hangcheng.

When I head to Shanghai next year, I’ll have to pass through Hangcheng, so I’ll just pick them up then.

As for the gifts I bought for you and Dad, I had them shipped. There was no way I could carry them on the bike!

I’ll go pick them up after I take a shower and change!"

Just as Huang Chong finished and was about to go shower, Huang Lingshan piped up:

"Bro! What about me? What about me? Did you get me a gift?"

As the only girl in the Huang Family, Huang Lingshan was of course getting a gift from Huang Chong, but he decided to tease her a bit. He said,

"Of course not. Didn’t you say I’d be better off working in a factory than being a Professional Cyclist? Where would I get the spare cash to buy you a gift?"