Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

The official race calendar for professional road cycling this year, the one set by the cycling association, is already out. I don’t have a copy at home, but you’ll see it when you get to the team.

I can give you a bit of a heads-up: all the domestic Professional Cyclists are going to have a very heavy workload this year.

There will be an incredible number of important races.

The pandemic restrictions were fully lifted before the new year, so starting this year, the association has not only implemented reforms and added a domestic road cycling league, but all the major UCI-sanctioned tours in the country will also fully resume.

Therefore, you’ll not only have to complete your team’s assignments, but also manage the selection process for the National Team.

Once you’re selected for the National Team, in addition to the domestic road cycling league and the UCI tours, your schedule will likely include several more races.

One of those races is the Asian Road Cycling Championships, which will determine whether our cyclists can earn a direct qualification spot for next year’s Paris Olympic Games.

Another is the 19th Asian Games, which was postponed and will now be held this October.

The qualification spots for the Asian Games will be decided at the National Road Cycling Championships, which the association will hold just one week after the Asian Championships.

You were last year’s double champion at the National Championships. It was a breakout performance that made you famous overnight.

But because of that, almost everyone in the domestic professional cycling scene has their eyes on you now.

Since you’re the champion, it’s a given that everyone will want to defeat you.

Every athlete wants to represent their country. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

So you must prepare yourself for grueling training, hard-fought battles, and even being strategically targeted by every other team."

After listening to Zhang Guowei, Huang Chong understood that this year was bound to be intense.

Compared to last year, when he only participated in two major events, this year was certain to be filled with major competitions all year long.

But he wasn’t intimidated by the news.

For a Professional Road Cyclist, riding 20,000 kilometers a year is perfectly normal.

A monster like Pogačar might even cover 12,000 kilometers in race mileage alone.

Add in training, and he probably rides around 30,000 kilometers in a year.

It just goes to show how intense it is.

As for being targeted, or even having tactics used against him, there wasn’t much to say about it.

To become the strongest, you had to defeat all your opponents. That was an immutable truth.

Huang Chong mulled it over for a while but had nothing more to add. He simply replied:

"I understand. Thank you for the heads-up, Master. I’ll prepare myself and rise to the challenge!"

...

After paying his New Year’s visit to Zhang Guowei, Huang Chong had pretty much finished all his personal errands in Hangcheng.

So, on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, he prepared to temporarily leave the city where he had lived for so long.

He would be back this June, however.

Because this year’s National Road Cycling Championships were being held at Qiandao Lake.

And the course for the National Championships was identical to the one for the Asian Games.

It was a perk of being the host nation for the Asian Games.

The home cyclists could get a head start, using the National Championships to train on the official course, familiarize themselves with its conditions, and get a feel for its overall difficulty.

After saying goodbye to Dewey, Huang Chong went to meet up with Chen Junyi, whom he hadn’t seen for a week, so they could travel to Shanghai together.

However, after some careful thought, Huang Chong felt that, out of basic courtesy, he should meet her at her house and pay a visit to her parents at the same time.

After all, Chen Junyi had helped him so much, and would likely continue to do so. The least he could do was show his gratitude.

Chen Junyi didn’t mind when she heard Huang Chong wanted to come to her house to pick her up.

Although her mother’s questions about her love life before the new year had left an impression on her, she had also thought it through. ’Until Huang Chong reaches the World Tour Level, I absolutely will not get involved romantically, even if he really does feel that way about me.’

’They were both young, recent university graduates, and this was such an important year. Of course, their careers had to come first.’

So she acted with an open conscience and readily agreed to Huang Chong’s suggestion.

"You want to come over and meet my parents?"

"Then come on over!"

"If you’re not scared, why should I be?"

So when Huang Chong arrived at her house carrying gift bags for a New Year’s visit, he was inexplicably nervous, but he did his best to look as steady as a rock.

Especially when speaking with Chen Mingyuan and Zhang Wanqing, he kept a smile on his face and strictly maintained his identity as an athlete.

The message, both spoken and unspoken, was that Chen Junyi was simply his dedicated coach who had helped him a great deal, and he was obligated to visit and express his gratitude.

This left Chen Mingyuan and Zhang Wanqing a bit surprised.

’Could it be that I was overthinking the possibility of our daughter and him getting together?’

’Or maybe... it’s only our daughter who has feelings for him?’

’Otherwise, how could this Huang kid be so composed in my presence, without showing the slightest hint of nervousness?’

As someone with experience in these matters, Chen Mingyuan couldn’t help but recall his first visit to his fiancée’s home, and the feeling of facing his future father-in-law’s incredibly stern expression.

He had been trembling with fear, as if walking on thin ice.

He had been more nervous then than when he represented the country at the Olympic Games.

’And yet this kid, meeting his potential future father-in-law for the first time, could remain so calm and composed, especially when I was deliberately putting on a stern face? So nonchalant?’

’This could only mean one thing.’

’The kid has absolutely no romantic interest in my daughter, so he has no reason to be afraid of me.’

It was only after Huang Chong finished his visit and left for Shanghai with his daughter that Chen Mingyuan took a sip of his black tea and began discussing it with his wife.

"Well, I’ll be. After all this time, it turns out the kid’s a block of wood. He has no romantic interest in our precious daughter at all.

He just sees our Nannan as his coach, plain and simple!

Still, while he might be slow on the uptake when it comes to romance, he’s quite mature in how he carries himself.

He even knew to come and thank the two of us during the New Year’s holiday."

Hearing her husband’s words, Zhang Wanqing felt a pang of disappointment. She said irritably:

"So it’s a good thing that it’s turned into *your* precious daughter having a one-sided crush?

I thought it was him who had feelings for Nannan—

but now it turns out to be the complete opposite."

"I don’t think so. I didn’t see any change in Nannan’s expression when Huang Chong was here. Aren’t they just regular colleagues?

If you ask me, this is just your wild imagination, a classic case of making something out of nothing.

They’re athletes. They have to work closely together. It’s a professional necessity. Why does it have to be about complicated feelings?

Besides, even if Nannan *does* have feelings for the kid and is just putting on a calm front, that would just mean he’s too dense to notice and doesn’t deserve her.

Our daughter is so exceptional. She’s always been a great student, her professional abilities are top-notch, and she takes after you—she’s beautiful. How could she possibly not be good enough for him?

Would he dare to look down on our daughter?"

Chen Mingyuan snorted disdainfully.

...

「On the road to Shanghai.」

Chen Junyi drove her own car.

She had already cleared it with the team, who had given her permission to have a private car.

Huang Chong sat in the passenger seat, silent for the entire trip. He didn’t initiate any conversation.

He was still reeling from the atmosphere of meeting her parents for the first time.

’To be honest, Chen Mingyuan hadn’t made a very good impression on him.’

’The man had a stern look on his face the entire time and barely said a word, acting as if I owed him money and refused to pay it back.’

Of course, he wouldn’t dare say that out loud.

At any rate, he had thought on his feet, and by sticking to the excuse of an athlete thanking his coach, he’d managed to get through the awkward first meeting.

At least Chen Junyi’s mother seemed to have a good impression of him. She had greeted him with a smile and was very warm the entire time.

And so, lost in his uncharacteristically deep silence, Huang Chong didn’t even realize when he and Chen Junyi arrived at the team headquarters in Shanghai.