A Familiar Feeling

Huang Chong slept through the night until dawn. When the alarm rang, he got up right on time at around 4:30 the next morning and washed up.

Afterward, he went to the kitchen, made himself a cup of unsweetened soy milk, quickly prepared two sandwiches, and ate one of them with the soy milk.

He put the other sandwich, five bottles of mineral water from the fridge, two bananas, and his TCR bike into the system storage space.

Finally, he took the electric car keys Du Wei had hung by the shoe cabinet and headed out, driving straight toward the museum in Lin'an District.

From Gongshu District, where he lived, to Lin'an District, he had to pass through Yuhang. It was quite a long distance.

Fortunately, he had set off early, before the morning rush hour. Traffic was light, and the drive went smoothly.

By the time he reached Lin'an District, found a parking lot near the museum, parked the car, and took out his TCR to ride to the meeting point, it was already around 5:50 in the morning.

By then, it was fully light out. Wang Qiang and the other two, along with the rest of the Headwind Cycling Team members, had all arrived.

There were both men and women among them, though the men vastly outnumbered the women. There were only three female riders.

Huang Chong gave the three women a quick look and could tell at a glance that they were definitely not cycling influencers or decorative vases.

Cycling kits were extremely tight-fitting. Once someone wore one, their physique was plain for all to see.

The three female riders before him were all solidly built. Though none of them was particularly tall, their leg muscles were clearly defined. One look was enough to tell they were no novice road cyclists.

"Morning, Huang Chong. Did you ride over from the city this early too? I didn't expect your stamina to be this good!"

When Wang Qiang saw Huang Chong arrive right on time, he took the initiative to greet him with a smile, though inwardly, he could not stop himself from being surprised.

He had assumed that after Huang Chong had worked so hard yesterday, pulling them in the wind for fifty kilometers, he definitely would not be able to join the West Zhejiang Sky Road ride today.

Yet judging from Huang Chong's current condition, he looked like nothing had happened. Not only was he full of energy, but he was positively glowing. He had clearly recovered.

"Little Huang, that body of yours is seriously fierce! Looking at you, I can tell you've already recovered. Being young is great—you bounce back so fast. Unlike us, after sitting in an office for years, if we do any intense exercise one day, we can basically only lie at home recovering the next."

Liu Junjie was the best joker among the three of them.

After hearing him, Huang Chong followed his lead and greeted every member of the team, introducing himself before replying modestly, "Brother Liu, don't make fun of me. I'm really just forcing myself to ride. I already checked the route. Today's ride will be very difficult. There are multiple climbs, and there's even an HC-category climb up Prince Peak. I just hope I don't get dropped too early today and left far behind by all of you."

Huang Chong had watched four editions of the Tour de France and was quite familiar with climbing classifications.

According to the climbing standards set by the UCI, climbs could be divided into five categories: Category 4, Category 3, Category 2, Category 1, and the most difficult, HC.

HC originally meant "beyond categorization," which showed just how difficult it was.

By the rough, unofficial definition, an HC climb needed at least 1,500 meters of vertical elevation gain. Prince Peak happened to exceed that threshold, reaching 1,557 meters.

"That won't happen, little brother. We can't possibly climb Prince Peak too fast either. With your ability, keeping up with us shouldn't be much of a problem," Chen Guangming added with a smile.

After they exchanged a few pleasantries, Zhang Yi, the captain of the Headwind Cycling Team, arrived among the group almost exactly on time, riding Pogačar's Tour de France bike, a Colnago V3RS.

He first swept his gaze over everyone who had come today. Including Huang Chong, there were seventeen people in total.

This was also the entire current roster of the Headwind Cycling Team.

They were unlike other cycling groups in Hangzhou, which might have dozens, hundreds, or even several hundred members in massive teams.

Zhang Yi had always been strict about recruiting new members, adhering to the principle that it was better to have fewer than accept just anyone.

As a retired former professional rider, he had brought nearly all of his habits from the provincial team into the team he had formed.

That was why this team's size was almost impossible to expand. The requirements were simply too high.

"You're Huang Chong, right? Wang Qiang told me about your abilities on WeChat yesterday. I think they're pretty good. Today, try your best to follow us for one loop first. If you can't keep up, that's fine too. Just ride at your own pace and follow the navigation route, doing your best to complete the loop. We'll start here, and we'll finish here too, so no matter when you arrive, we'll wait and have lunch together."

Huang Chong had nothing to say in response to Zhang Yi's words.

His first impression of the man was fairly good. He had a square face, was about 175 centimeters tall, and was at least over thirty.

But compared to Huang Chong, the man was much more powerfully built.

His upper body formed an inverted triangle, while his legs were incredibly thick, looking solid and explosive.

From the perspective of road cycling, someone with that sort of build clearly could not be a GC rider in a professional team. He was more suited to one-day classics, hilly races, and sprinting on flat terrain.

However, Zhang Yi had not mentioned a word about letting him join the team. Clearly, he wanted to observe Huang Chong's individual performance first.

If Huang Chong's ability failed to meet his expectations, joining the team would probably fall through.

Huang Chong merely nodded. He did not ask whether there were any standards for joining the team. He would simply do his best and ride with everything he had. Smiling, he replied, "All right, Captain Zhang!"

After briefly speaking with Huang Chong, Zhang Yi turned his attention to the other members and began giving instructions. "Everyone, I'll emphasize three requirements for today's ride. First, the West Zhejiang Sky Road has not actually been fully completed yet, so whenever we encounter construction sections, everyone must dismount and push their bikes through on foot. Second, when riding on public roads, you must obey traffic laws. Ride along the right shoulder the entire way. Do not interfere with normal motor vehicle traffic, and do not take up the lane. This is for our own safety. So aside from rotating through pulls at the front, no riding side by side at any time. Third, and finally, everyone must control your speed on descents. Don't chase the limit through corners. This is team training. Our priority is finishing safely. What I want to see is your climbing ability, not your descending ability. You're all adults, so I'll leave it at that. Otherwise, you'll think I'm being too long-winded. In short, be responsible for your own safety. This isn't a cycling race, and we don't have closed roads, so make sure to ride safely. Is that clear?"

Naturally, Wang Qiang and the others had no objections. They replied in unison, "Understood, Captain!"

"Good. Then let's set off. Follow the route I sent you beforehand. We'll head west all the way to Prince Peak. Once we get over the summit, it'll be a long descent afterward."

As soon as Zhang Yi finished speaking, the large road cycling group set off toward Prince Peak.

Huang Chong had not ridden this route in his previous life. On top of that, he was a newcomer who had yet to join the team, so he naturally stayed at the back of the group to get a feel for the situation first.

After setting out from Lin'an District, the opening section was very flat, practically like a flatland stage. The team's lead riders pushed the pace hard during their flat-road cruise, reaching an astonishing 35 km/h.

Since Huang Chong was riding with the group, he had riders ahead of him blocking the wind. Combined with his current FTP of 202 watts, keeping up with them was naturally no problem.

But once the flat road ended and the climbing began, the difficulty of the ride rose sharply.

The cruising speed of around 35 immediately began to drop.

Yet just as many riders in the group began to suffer on the climb, Huang Chong, riding at the very back, inexplicably felt a surge of excitement and murmured to himself, "This really is a familiar feeling!"

No one knew that compared with cruising on flat roads, he had actually preferred climbing in both his lives.