Looks Like This Kid Really Wasn't Ordinary

Of course, Huang Chong was not as Liu Junjie had assumed—someone who did not care at all about improving his own abilities.

On the contrary, in order to become a professional rider, he placed extraordinary importance on improving every weak point in his data.

As for a power meter, it was not that he could not afford to replace it. He simply did not want to upgrade the high-end hardware on this Giant TCR.

After all, the TCR ADV 3 came with Shimano's cable-actuated Tiagra groupset, which did not even qualify as entry-level.

Installing a power meter on a groupset like that would require replacing the entire crankset with high-end components. There was really no point.

Besides, Liu Junjie thought Huang Chong could not see his real power data, but he actually had a system bike computer.

Its real-time data could only be more accurate than that of an electronic bike computer.

This was a cheat system, after all. There was no way it could still have such basic information errors!

"Now that my strength is improving, I need to hurry up and get a better bike. I also need to install a power meter. Otherwise, when I go interview with teams in the future, they won't be able to judge my ability from the data—"

After parting ways with Wang Qiang and the other two, Huang Chong silently calculated things in his head. What he did not know was that after Wang Qiang got home, he sent the few simple data points displayed on Huang Chong's bike computer to the team captain, Zhang Yi.

Wang Qiang had no ill intentions or ulterior motives in doing so. He was simply astonished by how quickly Huang Chong had improved.

An average speed of 37, while riding in Zone 2 aerobically—this already far surpassed every member of their team.

He and Zhang Yi had a good relationship in private, so this could be considered putting in a good word for Huang Chong in front of Zhang Yi.

At that moment, Zhang Yi was at home coaxing his daughter to sleep. He was already married and had a daughter.

Being in his early thirties and having a family was perfectly normal.

However, despite having retired from the provincial team, his prospects in life were not particularly good.

Although he had received a one-time retirement payment from the provincial team, Hangzhou's cost of living was so high. Moreover, he had retired as a road cyclist, and there simply were no related jobs on the market that would let him continue being an athlete.

In China, while road cycling had suddenly exploded in popularity among the public, popularity was popularity, and professionalism was professionalism.

The enormous gap in professional standards meant that the authorities had not placed much more importance on this outdoor sport.

Furthermore, the UCI's medal events were mostly concentrated in track cycling, which was what the country focused on developing.

Zhang Yi's dream, naturally, was to see outdoor road cycling become fully professionalized in China.

He hoped even more that one day, seeing Chinese riders compete in the UCI WorldTour would become as commonplace as everyday life.

Though for now, that dream appeared completely out of reach.

Still, it was not as if he had never fantasized about opening a road cycling club, something like an overseas youth academy, to help the younger generation receive professional training early on.

Of course, opening a club was easy enough. He only had to throw money at registration. But keeping it running and making it profitable was something he knew was currently impossible.

Would parents in China really send their children into road cycling to be trained from a young age?

After all, unless one reached the level of Pogačar, Vingegaard, or Evenepoel, one could only earn several million euros a year.

If one was merely an ordinary domestique, aside from the guaranteed salary mandated by the UCI and team bonuses, there was no way to make a fortune like in mainstream sports such as football and basketball, where one could earn a fortune even playing in the Chinese Super League or the CBA.

So Zhang Yi was actually deeply conflicted.

On one hand, he held onto his dream of working in road cycling. That was why, even after retiring, he had formed the Headwind Cycling Team at Wang Qiang's suggestion—

On the other hand, for the sake of his family and livelihood, he had already gone to work at a bicycle factory, helping the product development team review and correct frame geometry data.

As a retired professional road cyclist, he naturally possessed ample expertise and authority when it came to assessing geometry data.

It was just that this job felt too much like assembly-line work to him, and it was far too distant from his personal ideals.

Although the pay was good, it was like locking a fierce tiger in a cage.

So in his spare time, especially when training with the Headwind Cycling Team's members, he often fantasized about several of his riders winning amateur-level championships and earning him some recognition.

Then perhaps, like music schools and art studios, he could open a road cycling club that generated income and profit, embarking on the path of cultivating the next generation of road cyclists!

But reality was cruel. Wang Qiang was already the strongest rider he had, yet at Wang Qiang's level, winning an amateur race was completely impossible.

His best result had only been finishing in the top hundred. That could not even be called an achievement.

It was even less help toward opening a road cycling club.

Until tonight, after he had put his daughter to sleep and was preparing to wash up and rest, his phone suddenly received the bike computer data Wang Qiang had sent regarding Huang Chong. His eyes immediately widened like saucers.

"Leading for a hundred kilometers at an average speed of 37, with a heart rate of 140?

How is that possible?

I remember when this kid went on the West Zhejiang Sky Road with me last week, his power was only around 200 watts, yet his heart rate had already reached Zone 4 threshold.

When he stood up on the steepest climb, he had even briefly entered Zone 5 anaerobic—

It's only been a week. How did he improve so quickly?

Could it be that he had held back before?"

Zhang Yi shook his head, finding it far too unbelievable.

He had personally seen Huang Chong's condition after finishing the Prince Peak climb. At the time, Huang Chong had indeed reached his limit. There was no way he had held anything back.

Yet now, despite producing even higher riding power, Huang Chong's heart rate had instead dropped dramatically.

That could only mean one thing: over the past week, he had undergone a world-shaking improvement.

"Could this kid... be a genius in road cycling?"

Zhang Yi was deeply shocked.

But no matter how he looked at it, he felt there was something wrong with the bike computer data Wang Qiang had sent. It looked as though it had been Photoshopped.

Because as an insider, he knew that Huang Chong's rate of improvement was beyond what could be considered normal for a human.

An increase in average speed within a week might be possible, since that also had a great deal to do with a rider's condition on that particular day.

But for the heart to improve by so much in such a short time completely violated the objective laws of human physiology.

He immediately sent Wang Qiang a message:

[Wang Qiang, are you sure this set of data belongs to Huang Chong? And you didn't deliberately use photo-editing software to alter the numbers, did you?]

When Wang Qiang, already home, saw this, he rolled his eyes and immediately replied with a voice message:

"Captain Zhang, what kind of relationship do we have? And don't you know what I'm like? How could I do something that boring?

This is Huang Chong's real data from today. If you don't believe me, you can ask Chen Guangming and Liu Junjie. They were both witnesses tonight!"

Upon hearing that, Zhang Yi already believed it in his heart, and he could not help thinking:

Looks like this kid really wasn't ordinary.

And at his rate of improvement, he should soon reach the level of a professional rider. I wonder if he's interested in becoming one?

No, he must be interested in becoming a professional rider.

I remember that at Prince Peak last week, he even asked me what basic power-to-weight ratio was needed to become a professional rider.

I just wonder what his power-to-weight ratio is now?

Looks like I need to find a time to ride with him one-on-one and test what his true level really is!

As Zhang Yi continued pondering, he was delighted that a genuine talent had appeared in his team, yet he also felt an inexplicable sense of melancholy.

Because he immediately thought:

If Huang Chong truly had the potential to become a professional rider, would he still have time to win amateur championships for him under the team's name?

That was directly tied to the foundation of honors he would need if he ever wanted the chance to open a club.