How Could Someone Built Like Him Climb So Well?

Among professional road cyclists, riders could generally be divided into several types:

All-round GC riders, sprinters, endurance riders, climbers, and time trialists.

Among them, all-round GC riders were usually the core leaders of each team. Every domestique, endurance rider, and tactical arrangement had to revolve around the team leader, helping him win the overall classification in multi-day races.

Such as the three Grand Tours, the seven major week-long tours, and even certain one-day races with complex terrain.

The most outstanding representative of GC riders was Slovenia's active rider: Tadej Pogačar.

Not only was he unbeatable on climbs, but he also possessed formidable sprinting ability. He could win the Tour de France overall title and go toe-to-toe with Van der Poel in the five major one-day classics.

Riders who specialized in sprinting, on the other hand, were generally huge, muscular men with terrifying explosive power.

Especially in the final two hundred meters of a sprint, a sprinter's peak power could generally exceed a terrifying 1500W in just fifteen seconds.

They had only one duty: to rely on explosive sprinting to win flat-stage finishes and earn sprint points.

For example, in the Tour de France, the rider with the most sprint points would ultimately wear the green "sprinters' jersey."

But while the green jersey changed hands every year, when it came to historical achievements across the entire cycling world, who was the most famous sprinter?

If Huang Chong had to choose, he would unhesitatingly pick the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish, who would one day become the record holder for the most Tour de France stage wins, with a full thirty-five victories.

As for riders who specialized in climbing, they had to work hard to earn mountain points in high-mountain stages—points with different rewards depending on the climb category—in order to win the final polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey.

Huang Chong himself liked climbing, but he did not want to become a climber who specialized in nothing but climbing.

After all, professional road cycling had developed to the point where all-round Martians like Pogačar had emerged.

How could he be content to remain a pure climber, making the polka-dot jersey his career goal while turning a blind eye to the yellow jersey that symbolized the overall championship and the highest honor?

Of course, the Tour de France was still far too distant for him. He first had to cross countless mountains and rivers, grind over endless asphalt, gravel, yellow sand, and dust beneath his wheels before he could truly reach that land of ideals, compete with the finest road cyclists, and climb the highest mountain in his heart.

"Kid, how does climbing feel?

We're still a long way from the hairpins on Prince Peak. Remember to adjust your gear ratio whenever necessary and maintain a proper cadence.

And don't burn through your energy too much. Otherwise, on that final long climb with 480 meters of elevation gain, you won't have enough left to ride all the way to the summit in one go."

Chen Guangming was riding ahead of Huang Chong. Of the three, he spoke the least, yet he had been the first to invite Huang Chong to join the team.

At the same time, whenever he guided Huang Chong, he was the kind of genuine big brother who never held anything back and said whatever he knew.

Huang Chong had actually accumulated plenty of climbing experience in his previous life. Xianyun County, where his hometown was located, was a mountainous county town surrounded by mountains on all sides.

Other than the relatively flat roads within the county seat, the moment one left the outskirts, there were endlessly undulating mountain roads.

So he was no stranger to choosing the right gear ratio to maintain cadence while climbing, nor to matters like managing stamina and drinking rhythm.

He smiled and nodded.

"Thanks for the reminder, Brother Chen. I'll remember it. Riding feels pretty good so far. The gradient is only around 2% or 3% right now, so keeping up with everyone for the time being shouldn't be a problem!"

After Huang Chong had pushed his FTP above 200W, and with his weight having dropped to around 71.5 kg today, his power-to-weight ratio had reached 2.8-plus.

If all he wanted was to stay with the main group, it would not be difficult.

But if he were asked to pull the entire group, that was definitely beyond him.

After all, on a long gradual climb, he would need to hold 30-plus kilometers per hour into a headwind, which required an average power output of at least 210W.

To reach that power, he could only get out of the saddle and rock the bike. There was no way he could hit that speed while seated.

But standing and rocking the bike was meant for getting over extremely steep sections. It could not be sustained for long periods like seated pedaling.

"That's good. As long as you can stay with the main group and don't get dropped easily, joining the team won't be a problem.

The captain doesn't demand exceptional individual results from every member. As long as you aren't too far behind the others—for example, vanishing the moment the intensity rises a little and affecting the group ride—he'll generally take you in."

Chen Guangming was effectively revealing Zhang Yi's inside criteria for recruiting team members. Although it would ultimately still depend on Huang Chong's own legs, once someone had a clear goal, even when they were clearly nearing their limit, they could often grit their teeth and endure the hardest part.

However, as the distance continued to roll by and the peloton passed through West Zhejiang Grand Canyon, reaching a point just 20 km from Prince Peak, the elevation would rise from a little over 400 meters to more than 1,300 meters, with the entire stretch being uphill.

Huang Chong did not know that after the Western Zhejiang Sky Road was completed and opened, this climb would become the stage used for the West Zhejiang Sky Road KOM climbing race.

In his previous life, he had originally planned to come race on this Sky Road as well. Unfortunately, there were simply too many registrants—more than a thousand, in fact—and race slots even had to be allocated by lottery. He had not been selected at all, so he had regretfully missed it.

Yet in this life, under Zhang Yi's lead, he had gotten to experience this 20-km HC-category long climb before everyone else.

In the end, despite staying at the back of the group for the entire route and never taking a single pull, he did not exhaust himself and get dropped. Instead, some teammates heavier than him were the first to begin struggling.

That was the cruelty of mountain climbing.

It was unlike flat stages or descents, where riders could let the bike coast on the momentum of the rolling wheels, ease off the pedals for a moment, and give their tired thighs a brief chance to relax.

When facing steep gradients, even if a rider was tucked behind the main group, the moment his power fell short for even one pedal stroke, gravity would teach him a harsh lesson.

So riders had to maintain high power output throughout the entire climb in order to keep moving forward in the mountains.

"Wow, kid, you're doing pretty well. Half our team has already been dropped, yet you're still hanging onto us so firmly. How about taking a turn in the climbing rotation too?"

Liu Junjie had just finished his pull and dropped back to the rear of the team to rest. Seeing Huang Chong still holding on to the tail of the front group instead of disappearing like those who had been dropped, he was deeply shocked.

After all, when Huang Chong had pulled for them on the flats last night, he had already been going all out at just 32 km/h, putting out only around 180W.

But that amount of power was utterly insufficient to stay with them on such a long climb.

Because on climbs, nobody could raise their average speed very high, and drafting was nowhere near as effective as it was while cruising on flat roads. It depended much more on each rider's own leg power.

Liu Junjie knew full well that at the main group's current average speed, every rider needed to produce at least around 200W to keep up.

So how was Huang Chong doing it?

He simply could not figure it out.

"Could this kid be a born climbing monster? China's version of Vingegaard, able to produce even more power on climbs than while cruising on the flats?"

The more he thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed.

After all, professional climbers like Vingegaard were usually extremely lean, with only their thigh muscles exceptionally developed.

Huang Chong's current build could only be called normal. He was nowhere close to being skinny.

Yet with a build like his, how could he climb so well?