Using 240W to Catch the Lead Group

Watching Huang Chong maintain such a terrifying cruising speed on flat ground, Du Wei really couldn't keep it together.

Especially when he thought about how, during the West Lake Circuit before, Huang Chong had only been able to draft behind him, with an average speed of around 30 km/h.

Yet during this time, Du Wei himself had barely trained, while Huang Chong had spent even more time practicing mountain biking techniques—

But when they rode together again, Huang Chong's average speed had increased by nearly 10 km/h?

"An increase of 1 km/h a day? What the hell is this?!"

Du Wei felt utterly depressed.

After all, for ordinary people, the only time their cycling ability improved rapidly was when they had just gotten into road cycling.

But once they reached an average speed of 35 km/h, improving any further became extremely difficult.

On flat-road cruising, being able to hold an FTP output sufficient for a 40 km/h average meant being a seasoned amateur, the core rider of an amateur cycling team in any major city.

Damn it, could Old Huang have been messing with me too? Was he secretly hiding his strength before?

Du Wei felt deeply suspicious, but then he thought:

That shouldn't be possible. This kid has only been cycling for less than a month and a half in total.

Even if he wanted to hide it, he wouldn't have the foundation—

Could losing weight really be this effective?

Could it really boost someone's average speed and power-to-weight ratio so dramatically in such a short time?

Du Wei, who had never had the slightest interest in losing fat, suddenly began to waver.

Seeing his friend improve so much, he was not jealous enough to turn green with envy, but he truly did feel envious.

Most importantly, Huang Chong had become far more handsome after slimming down.

What man wouldn't want that lean physique, with taut muscles and sharply defined contours gained through fitness?

Huang Chong had no idea that merely showing a little of his true ability would cause such a huge upheaval in his friend's heart.

For him, all his attention was currently focused on chasing the five riders ahead, led by Zhou Ming, who were already more than a hundred meters in front of him.

The lakeside road itself twisted and turned, and every climb followed the contours of the mountains. So not long after Huang Chong broke away to chase alone, Zhou Ming and the others entered the most difficult series of three climbs.

Because of that, he quickly lost sight of their group.

Once they entered the forest roads, the mountains of Zhejiang Province were covered in Japanese cedars and pine trees. The dense foliage completely blocked one's view.

Without radio communication, riders behind had no way of determining how far ahead the people in front actually were.

However, after nearly 20 km of riding, Huang Chong had a rough grasp of the basic ability of Zhou Ming's group of five.

Their climbing ability was definitely stronger than Du Wei's, but they could only be considered mid-tier amateur riders.

With four of them taking turns and drafting for Zhou Ming the entire way, their output should have been around 200W if calculated by flat-road cruising data.

"Brother Zhou, how are you feeling? Should I lower the pace a little?"

"Yeah, Brother Zhou. Du Wei has already been completely dropped by us. That guy's climbing ability is awful!"

"Once we get through these three climbs, we probably won't see them again!"

The paid riders taking turns at the front saw Zhou Ming's expression becoming strained and his breathing turning rapid on the climb, so they all began making suggestions.

Zhou Ming was their sugar daddy. Whether it was their daily training or the top-tier bikes they were riding now, Zhou Ming had paid for all of it.

Although they were capable of riding even faster, whether the four of them ultimately won meant nothing.

Because they all understood that they had only one responsibility: do everything they could to ensure their sugar daddy won the championship.

Zhou Ming also knew that he had taken a huge advantage over Du Wei.

First, he had carefully designed the stage difficulty to strike directly at his opponent's weakness, and he had even hired a group of people to train with him.

Although these paid riders were not professional cyclists, they were all members of road cycling teams affiliated with various Hangzhou bicycle brands. They were relatively experienced amateurs.

Therefore, he had prepared for this cycling event for a long time. Aside from going to work at the group during the day, he spent almost all his time after work on cycling training.

At least over the past week, he and the cycling girls had greatly reduced the number of times they trained their power in bed.

And after entering the actual race, he had brought along four supporting riders, each stronger than himself, giving him every possible advantage.

Not only did someone draft for him the whole way, letting him simply sit in and ride, but in order to cut weight to the extreme, he had not even brought a single cycling bottle on his bike.

Whenever he became too thirsty to endure it, the four men would take out their own cycling bottles and let him drink his fill.

It had to be said that the riding treatment Zhou Ming had created for himself with money was even better than that of a core team leader on a UCI WorldTour team. The experience was simply maxed out.

When they crossed the first short climb and reached the halfway supply station in Ganwu Village, Zhou Ming had even arranged in advance for cycling girls to prepare energy gels for him there.

The others could only grab some bottled water and drinks, while he began eating gels to replenish the energy his body had expended.

This was to deal with the upcoming 2 km climb, where the gradient would suddenly rise to 5%.

In the final 0.5 km near the mountaintop by Xie Family Village, the gradient would gradually ease to around 3%.

"They really can't catch up. I'd guess those two guys haven't even reached the halfway point of the first climb yet."

"By the time they pass Ganwu Village and descend to where we are, we should already be climbing the final slope toward Chen Family Village, right?"

"Brother Zhou, the next climb is 1.5 km long at a 5% gradient. Remind us anytime if you need us to control the pace. If it feels too fast, we'll follow your rhythm."

The paid riders were actually quite relaxed.

After all, Zhou Ming's only opponents were Du Wei and that kid named Huang Chong.

Their main competitor had already been left far behind right from the start by their Zone 4 riding, and judging from the earlier situation, the other side had no chance of catching up. They even felt that this assignment was far too easy!

By this point, Zhou Ming was also feeling somewhat disappointed and uninterested.

He had thought that he and Du Wei would be like they were in last year's lake circuit race—evenly matched, constantly pulling at each other until they decided the winner near the finish line, allowing him to have a fiery-blooded revenge—

But unexpectedly, after several months, Du Wei's level had not improved at all. It even showed signs of declining.

As for Huang Chong, whom Zhou Ming saw as someone who talked big and boasted to the skies, although his body shape had changed drastically in just ten days—

Just as Zhou Ming had said, cycling ultimately relied on two legs. Losing some weight and training one's abs would not do any good.

"Just ride normally. I can still keep up at this pace!"

Although Zhou Ming was already struggling, especially after they began climbing the 5% slope and his heart rate immediately approached Zone 5 anaerobic intensity, his love for cycling was completely genuine.

With such a good opportunity to ride, he truly wanted to see where his limit lay.

So despite holding a huge lead over Du Wei and Huang Chong, he did not relax his guard early or tell his supporting riders to slow down.

However, just as they rode at their normal level and believed victory was secure—

Less than 20 meters behind them, a lean, tall figure riding a Ninth-Generation TCR ADV 3 had already raced like the wind from Ganwu Village to the foot of the mountain.

Then, with his pre-adjusted gear ratio, Huang Chong charged straight into the 5% climb. Still maintaining an FTP output as high as 240W, it took him only a short while to catch Zhou Ming's lead group.