Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Effortless Takedown, Crushing First Victory

In the top-tier races of the World Tour, a certain phenomenon is a common sight:

When a breakaway rider nears the stage finish or reaches a key point that could decide the victory, the peloton behind them—a massive group formed by various teams’ sprinters or GC Cyclists—will bear down on them with the force of an avalanche, furiously and relentlessly.

The pressure, like that of an advancing army, is enough to mentally crush any breakaway rider who isn’t strong enough.

Many riders who specialize in breakaways are cruelly swallowed by the main group when they are only dozens of meters, or even just a dozen or so meters, from the finish line.

This causes the victory they’d fought for all stage—a victory that was right within their grasp—to slip away.

It’s an undeniably cruel fate.

Yet, this is precisely the allure of competitive sports.

To win, you have to endure the pressure from the course’s difficulty and the other cyclists, and be the first to get your front wheel across the finish line.

And yet, even though he was only being chased by a single rider, Zhou Ming, who clearly had a five-man team, felt a pressure from Huang Chong that was akin to being pursued by a professional GC Cyclist.

This was especially true when the guy steadily closed the gap, pulled up alongside him barely halfway through the 1.5-kilometer climb, and shot him an emotionless glance.

Then, to his astonishment, Huang Chong suddenly rose from his saddle.

His body began to sway rhythmically from side to side as his legs pumped furiously. His average speed, which had been around 15 km/h, instantly shot up to over 20 km/h as he went on the attack.

’Shit, how did this kid catch us so fast? And he dares to get out of the saddle and counter-attack?’

The pacer at the front of the group, responsible for Zhou Ming’s lead-out, found it unbelievable when he saw Huang Chong attack.

They had been holding a steady 200 watts. For him to catch up this quickly, Huang Chong’s power output must be way over 200W.

But he had no time to dwell on it. He quickly got out of the saddle and matched the attack.

The next moment, the power reading on his bike computer shot up from a stable 200 watts to over 600.

This was the maximum power output a rider could generate in an extreme anaerobic burst.

It couldn’t be sustained for long, but the initial burst of power was astonishing.

Huang Chong, of course, felt a rider immediately respond to his attack, so after pushing hard out of the saddle for a few dozen meters, he backed off.

He realized he couldn’t drop his opponent with just this short burst. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Mindlessly attacking any further would be pointless.

Although his Sprinting Burst had increased by 10 points to a current value of 60 after taking the Extreme Anaerobic Threshold Enhancer, a stat like that was barely passing for an amateur and was far from an advantage.

On the other hand, Zhou Ming’s pacers were all quite powerfully built and were clearly capable sprinters.

He had no reason to pit his weakness against their strength.

His strengths were his long-distance climbing endurance, his cardiovascular recovery, and his higher average power output.

For instance, after his attack, he settled back into the saddle and continued riding at an average of 240 watts. The pacer who had managed to stick to his wheel during the initial burst soon couldn’t keep up.

Unfortunately, the climbs on the Tour of Qiandao Lake route were all too short. Even though the pacer was completely spent after desperately chasing him up the slope, he still managed to hang on until they reached Xiejia Village at the summit.

After passing through the village, they hit another high-speed descent.

The three remaining pacers responsible for pulling Zhou Ming used the descent to successfully catch back up to Huang Chong and their teammate.

On the descent, Huang Chong’s disadvantages were obvious.

First, his cornering stat was only 64, which gave him no advantage.

Second, his lower body weight meant his downhill speed was reduced.

Finally, his bike wasn’t very aerodynamic, whereas Zhou Ming was on one of the most aerodynamic Canyon race bikes available. Getting caught on the descent was inevitable.

However, once the six of them regrouped, the atmosphere was dead silent. No one said a word.

The only sound was the crisp, loud, and pleasant whirring of their freehubs as the wheels coasted at high speed.

Zhou Ming was too angry to speak.

’He couldn’t believe it. The kid he’d written off as all talk was actually this strong on the climbs!’

’He hadn’t had any energy left to respond to that attack out of the saddle just now.’

’If it weren’t for the excellent sprinting of the pacers he’d hired, the guy would have gotten away.’

As for the other pacers, they didn’t dare speak.

After all, the situation was dire. They had actually been caught by their rival.

Even if they had the strength to stick with their opponent, their core mission was to help their client win the title.

There was no point in the four of them just sticking to Huang Chong.

However, Huang Chong, now at the head of the pack, had no such concerns.

He stuck to the plan he’d made on the fly. After descending from Xiejia Village and starting the last of a three-climb series, he hadn’t been climbing for long before he was out of the saddle again, launching a second attack.

As expected, the rider who had desperately followed him before was still spent from the previous effort. He hadn’t recovered and could only watch Huang Chong’s retreating figure with a sense of helpless frustration.

Fortunately, losing one pacer wasn’t a major issue; there were still three left in the group.

Immediately, another one shot out from the group, latching onto Huang Chong’s attacking wheel.

’So you’re the kid who likes attacking on climbs? We’ve got four guys who can respond. I’d like to see just how many times you can do this!’

The pacer gritted his teeth, pushing into his anaerobic Zone 5 to chase Huang Chong, a fierce resolve hardening in his heart.

As expected, Huang Chong’s second attack was covered.

But this time, he sustained the attack for a full hundred meters. He didn’t just blow up the rider on his wheel; he nearly blew up Zhou Ming and the other two in the group behind them.

However, Huang Chong’s cardiopulmonary system had been optimized to its absolute peak. After reaching Chen Family Village, he only needed the short rest of another small descent to return to his optimal condition.

’It seems my only real weakness is raw leg power,’ Huang Chong thought. ’But when it comes to cardiovascular strength, I’m already world-class—’

With just two attacks out of the saddle, Huang Chong had been able to gauge just how ridiculously strong his cardiovascular system was.

After he had toyed with them, Zhou Ming’s entire group was panting like bulls, while he himself showed no signs of strain.

He knew he didn’t even need to get out of the saddle. He could drop Zhou Ming and his men on any climb just by maintaining a sustained FTP Power output. freewebnovel.cσ๓

But then he remembered what Dewey had said the night before and decided against simply crushing Zhou Ming with his raw strength.

That would be too humiliating for him.

He didn’t care about his own bad blood with Zhou Ming, but Dewey and Zhou Ming were friends, not to mention business partners.

Caught in the middle, he didn’t want to make things too awkward.

So, after the three-climb series, as they faced the final two climbs, Huang Chong put on an act. He made it look like he was a desperate man on the verge of his limit, and in doing so, he completely drained Zhou Ming’s last two pacers, causing them to fall off the pace one by one.

Finally, when it was just him and Zhou Ming, Huang Chong—who looked to be on the verge of collapse but was actually riding comfortably within his limits—put in a couple of hard pedal strokes just before the final summit finish. He snatched the victory by an extremely narrow margin of about one bike length.

As Zhou Ming struggled across the line, his heart rate about to explode, he was so furious at the result that his vision nearly went black, and he almost face-planted right there on the spot.

’From his perspective, he’d lost by a single bike length. Not even a full second.’

How could it be any more frustrating or disappointing?

But a loss is a loss.

It didn’t matter if it was by a bike length or half a wheel—a loss was still a loss.

What Zhou Ming didn’t know, however, was that Huang Chong had been faking it the whole time. Aside from his brief attacks out of the saddle, his heart rate had never even entered the anaerobic zone. He hadn’t even used seventy percent of his true strength.

[Congratulations! You have successfully secured your first career victory]

[Reward Acquired: 15 Basic Optimization Value points, Everyday Training Pack (contains: 50 Training Recovery Energy Gels, 50 Rapid Recovery Energy Bars, 50 cases of Rapid-Effect Electrolyte Sports Drink)]

[Rapid-Effect Electrolyte Sports Drink: This beverage helps the host to quickly replenish water and electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium. It maintains fluid balance, prevents dehydration, muscle cramps, and fatigue, and reduces the risk of hyponatremia, heatstroke, and muscle spasms, thereby extending cycling endurance.]

...