Pretty Capable—Try Riding with the Team

"Bro, our captain said you're pretty capable. You can come ride with our team and give it a try."

"But you rode a hundred kilometers with us today. Will you still have the energy to do the West Zhejiang Sky Road tomorrow?"

"If you can't handle it physically, I can talk to our captain and arrange for you to join another team ride next time."

Looking at the string of WeChat messages from a friend named Wang Qiang on Huang Chong's phone, Du Wei—who had been gaming since last night until noon, then sleeping from the afternoon until just now—yawned as he complained, "What the hell is this?"

"Ride with a team?"

"West Zhejiang Sky Road?"

"Is Old Huang joining some team or something?"

He turned to look at Huang Chong, who was making low-fat potato salad wraps in the kitchen, and continued thinking, This guy actually went behind my back to try out for a team?

But with his current ability, no professional team would want him, right?

He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen with Huang Chong's phone. Dark circles hung heavily beneath his eyes as he held the phone out to his classmate and said bluntly, "Some guy named Wang Qiang sent you a WeChat message. He's asking if you still have the energy to do the West Zhejiang Sky Road tomorrow!"

Huang Chong was busy making wraps and had no free hand to take the phone. He also did not care that Du Wei had read his messages, merely asking, "What else did he say?"

Seeing how calm he looked, Du Wei could not help curling his lip. Deliberately leaving out details, he said, "He said the team captain thinks your riding ability is decent enough, and you can go ride with their team and give it a try."

"You ran off to try out for a professional team today? And did some hundred-kilometer test ride?"

Completely misunderstanding the situation, Du Wei analyzed it on his own. "If you ask me, no professional team would want someone at your level, right?"

"Even though our country is a latecomer in professional road cycling and the scene has only just started developing, you still need a power-to-weight ratio of at least 5.0+ to be a pro rider."

"And you're not even at 3.0!"

Seeing him question his ability, Huang Chong could not help rolling his eyes.

In fact, after receiving tonight's system reward, he had put all his beginner optimization points into FTP power. His current figure had successfully broken past 200W.

Although he was indeed still far from the threshold for professional riders, dropping Du Wei would be effortless.

And if he lowered his weight to 65KG, his current power-to-weight ratio really would reach 3.0.

He was not nearly as hopeless as Du Wei made him sound.

"It's not what you think. I was just riding on the greenway when I ran into some riders from an amateur team."

"I rode a hundred kilometers with them today, and they thought I was pretty capable, so they asked whether I wanted to join their team."

"Of course I don't mind. I have to join a team sooner or later anyway. They may be an amateur team, but I'm still some distance from professional level, right?"

"I can use this time to transition through their team and get familiar with group riding while I'm at it."

After saying that, Huang Chong continued, "Help me reply to him. Tell him I'm physically fine and can take part in tomorrow's West Zhejiang Sky Road. Ask him to send me the team's meeting point."

"Oh, and speaking of that, I need to tell you something. I'm taking a comp day tomorrow, so I won't be going to work at the shop."

"Don't let Master Liu take leave too, or there won't be any mechanic at the shop and we'll have to close for the day!"

"If he wants to take time off later, I'll cover his shift!"

"You don't need to worry about the shop. Before you became a mechanic, wasn't Old Liu doing just fine?"

"That guy's obsessed with making money. He'd love to work all 365 days a year and squeeze overtime pay out of me."

Looking utterly unconcerned, Du Wei then glanced at the whole-wheat wrap on the cutting board. He chuckled, his face suddenly taking on a fawning look as he changed the subject. "Old Huang, can you let me have that wrap to fill my stomach first?"

"I only ate your sandwich this morning. I haven't eaten anything since."

"I got so hungry I woke up. You can just make another one for yourself."

Hearing that, Huang Chong's face practically went dark.

He had not eaten anything either after cycling for three hours, and he was starving.

Yet this guy was actually trying to steal his fat-loss meal—and seemed to have gotten addicted to eating them.

He immediately snapped, "Did gaming fry your brain? Can't you order takeout?"

"No, no, no, bro. Takeout isn't healthy."

"Your wrap is different. Just looking at the color tells me it's whole wheat. So healthy, so green, so nutritious—"

"Come on, let me test it for poison!"

In the end, Huang Chong still gave the wrap to Du Wei and made another one for himself.

What was infuriating was that after wolfing it down, Du Wei still pushed his luck. "Damn, this is good! Old Huang, so fat-loss meals can taste this good."

"When did you learn to cook? How did I not know about this?"

"Oh, right. How about I have Wu Fang come eat at our place for a while? You're making fat-loss meals every day anyway, so make an extra portion for her too. It'll save her from eating that garbage boiled vegetables every day."

"She can't lose weight no matter what, and she keeps giving me trouble all day long. It's driving me crazy!"

Of course Huang Chong was not taking on that job.

How could he not know that Wu Fang's inability to lose weight had nothing to do with boiled vegetables? She simply could not control herself and secretly ate snacks.

How was she supposed to lose weight like that?

He directly changed the subject. "Did you reply to the WeChat message? Don't delay my big plans. Whether I can become a professional rider depends heavily on this next move!"

Du Wei gave a dismissive snort and said carelessly, "I replied ages ago. Isn't it just an amateur team? How's it any different from Zhou Ming's crappy cycling group?"

"There are tons of grassroots teams like that in Hangzhou."

"And they're acting all high and mighty with this 'come ride with us and give it a try,' like they're some professional team!"

"You're taking it way too seriously."

"If you ask me, you might as well join Zhou Ming's cycling group. Didn't you say before that you wanted to drop him hard in front of all those tacky, money-obsessed cycling girls?"

"What, don't tell me you forgot?"

"I'm warning you—once the Tour de France is over, you have to come with me to Zhou Ming's cycling event."

"I'm counting on you to be my super lieutenant and take some of the wind out of that rich kid's sails!"

"Those things don't conflict. I'll definitely go with you to knock that rich kid down a peg."

"But I'm not joining Zhou Ming's cycling group. That guy is just using cycling as a cover. What kind of cycling group is that supposed to be?"

"He set up that organization to build himself a harem."

"That circle is way too messy, a complete cesspool. I don't want to catch anything."

"Come on, Old Huang, you can't put it like that. There may not be many people in his cycling group who ride seriously, but you can still ride the not-so-serious kind of bike!"

"And besides, the team you want to join probably doesn't have as many girls as his cycling group, right?"

"You've been single for so long. Aren't you planning to find someone?"

"Even if you're not looking for a relationship, you've got to blow off some steam, don't you?"

"I've heard that athletes can get sick from holding it in too long."

"Don't you want to become a professional rider? That makes you an athlete too, right? Hahaha!"

"Get lost!"

The moment Huang Chong heard that, he knew Du Wei's perverse sense of humor was kicking in again. He had no time to trade jabs with him.

He was a man, of course he would find a partner.

But Zhou Ming's cycling group was basically a gathering place for gold diggers. How could anyone there be life-partner material?

And the more they were that sort of woman, the more likely they were to write dramatic posts on Xiaohongshu and Weibo. It would be absolutely awful if he failed to make a name for himself in professional cycling, only to earn himself the label of scumbag first.

After all, plenty of athletes these days had crashed and burned over relationship scandals.

So as far as Huang Chong was concerned, if he was going to find someone, it would definitely be a normal, dependable woman.

Too lazy to keep dealing with Du Wei's nonsense, he snatched back his phone. Taking his freshly made whole-wheat wrap and a glass of freshly squeezed vegetable juice, he went to the dining room to start dinner while reviewing Wang Qiang's chat history.

In the final messages, he saw the departure location Wang Qiang had left him:

In front of Lin'an District Museum!