If It Doesn't Come, Fine; When It Does, Three in a Row

After Zhou Ming left, Du Wei immediately called Huang Chong and told him that Zhou Ming was heading to Suzhou to compete as well, intending to face him on the same course. "Brother, this kid has his sights set on you. He insists on getting his pride back from you. Looks like at Qiandao Lake last time, asking you to spare his feelings and only beat him by a hair was the wrong call. A stubborn young master like him needs to be thoroughly crushed. Only when he understands the real gap will he tuck his tail and stop making trouble. Good luck, Old Huang. This time, you have to make Zhou Ming lose so thoroughly that he accepts it!"

Huang Chong hadn't expected that after he had politely turned down the rich young master, the guy would still refuse to let it go and haunt him all the way to Suzhou.

But since it was an open cycling race, as long as Zhou Ming registered normally, Huang Chong had no reason to refuse.

It would save him from having to compete with the guy again after returning to Hangzhou. Killing several birds with one stone.

"Got it, Old Du. With Young Master Zhou's level, just like you said before, since he failed to beat me the first time, he'll never have another chance to turn things around in this lifetime!"

Huang Chong sneered. He truly had no need to take Zhou Ming seriously.

He had now completed the third phase of his fat-loss mission, and his weight had fully dropped to 60 kg. Not only had he received the system reward, but with the natural power gains from this week's daily training, his FTP had reached 270W.

Without even factoring in his weight, his power-to-weight ratio had reached 4.5.

With his current skinny, monkey-like build, if he went all out at Zone 4 threshold for an hour, his average speed could even approach 45 km/h.

That speed might still be unimpressive before world-class riders. After all, those big names could casually push their average speed past 60 on flat stages. But among amateur riders, maintaining an average of 45 km/h was already top-tier pro-level performance.

Of course, after dropping to 60 kg, Huang Chong realized that he really had gotten a little too skinny. He practically looked like a walking skeleton.

If his mother saw him like this, she would definitely worry—and then surely give him a harsh scolding, asking whether he had lost his mind.

So this 4.5 power-to-weight ratio could only be considered false data. He was also preparing to start gaining weight right away and bring himself back to around 65 kg.

After hanging up with Du Wei, Huang Chong stopped wasting time. He put all the necessities he would need, including his road bike, into the system storage space. Carrying only his ID and phone, he headed to the high-speed rail station and made his way to Suzhou.

However, after meeting up at a local hostel in Suzhou with Zhang Yi, Wang Qiang, Liu Junjie, and the three female riders from the team who would also be competing, everyone was dumbfounded by his 60 kg physique.

"Kid, something's not right with you. Compared to Monday, you seem even thinner?"

Liu Junjie stared at Huang Chong in shock. He walked over and pinched Huang Chong's arms and thighs, only to suddenly discover that although Huang Chong looked frail enough to be blown over by the wind, the key areas of his body were not lacking in muscle at all. They were hard as iron.

"Damn, did you build your muscle distribution according to your own design? How did your upper body get skinny enough to look like skin wrapped around bones, while your abs and thighs still have so much muscle? And it's so solid too. How did you do that?"

Through his clothes, Liu Junjie had practically felt out the secrets of his body, leaving Huang Chong speechless. He could only laugh it off. "Aren't we road cyclists? We train by riding every day, so of course we'd have leg muscles. As for abs, didn't you guys say core strength was important? So I went back and did a ton of planks, sit-ups, and stuff like that. Then I trained them up!"

"That's not scientific. A person's muscle distribution is usually symmetrical. If you slimmed down this much, the muscles in your legs and abs should have been reduced proportionally too. But it feels like you deliberately controlled the muscles in those two areas so they wouldn't disappear, while only cutting away the excess muscle and fat from the rest of your body!"

That was exactly what Huang Chong had done, though he had only managed it with the system's help.

But he couldn't admit that, so he could only shrug vaguely. "Then I don't know. Anyway, I'm planning to start a weight-gain program tonight and get back to around 65 kg."

"That's reasonable. At your height, you really do need to add about 5 kg. You look too scary right now. Even Pogačar, as strong as he is on climbs, isn't as skinny as you."

Zhang Yi finally spoke, offering his advice with a serious expression. "He might even be a little shorter than you, but he weighs at least 65 kg, and his build looks very balanced. Hurry up and gain weight, Huang Chong—especially in your chest, back, and glutes. Muscle is the foundation of explosive sprinting power, and it is also an important part of maintaining balance while riding. Relying only on your abs and thighs, you can manage long endurance rides. But without enough explosive power, you won't be able to shake off other riders at crucial moments. If they can stay with you all the way to the finish, then you can only get beaten at the line. That would make you the biggest loser."

Huang Chong strongly agreed with Zhang Yi's words. Among UCI WorldTour riders, many skinny climbers were excellent at breakaways, but they were often swallowed up by the peloton in the final stages without any ability to resist.

"Got it, Captain. I'll start stuffing myself with fat tonight and put on weight right away!"

Huang Chong's joking tone immediately drew laughter from the team members.

Just then, the system text, which had not displayed any new missions for a long time, reappeared. And it had refreshed more than one mission.

[Detected that someone has suggested the host strengthen chest muscles. Please complete 4 sets x 10 barbell bench presses, 4 sets x 10 incline dumbbell bench presses, and 4 sets x 10 machine chest flyes. Reward: 2 Basic Optimization Points, Chest Muscle Enhancer x1]

[Chest Muscle Enhancer: Strengthens chest muscles, expands the thoracic cage, increases chest cavity volume, helps the lungs expand and improve oxygen intake, reduces damage to key internal organs such as the heart and lungs from external impacts, improves muscular balance, enhances instantaneous explosive power, and stabilizes riding posture]

[Detected that someone has suggested the host strengthen back muscles. Please complete 4 sets x 12 lat pulldowns, 4 sets x 12 incline dumbbell bent-over rows, and 4 sets x 12 seated machine rows. Reward: 2 Basic Optimization Points, Back Muscle Enhancer x1]

[Back Muscle Enhancer: Strengthens back muscle groups, corrects spinal balance, stabilizes riding posture on bumpy roads, reduces crash risk, and improves long-distance endurance riding in an aerodynamic position]

[Detected that someone has suggested the host strengthen glute muscles. Please complete 4 sets x 15 hip abductions, 4 sets x 15 hack squats, and 4 sets x 15 hack good mornings. Reward: 2 Basic Optimization Points, Glute Muscle Enhancer x1]

[Glute Muscle Enhancer: Strengthens glute muscle groups, stores elastic potential energy, improves pedaling efficiency, maintains pelvic stability, controls knee joint stability, and preserves dynamic balance while riding]

When Huang Chong saw that huge flood of system text, his first reaction was that it made his eyes spin.

This really was a case of nothing happening for ages, then three in a row.

But after carefully reading through everything, he suddenly realized that the body he had thought the system had already optimized to its limit still had not reached a perfect state.

To achieve the best possible cycling efficiency, it turned out that developing every muscle group throughout the body was important.

For him, it was naturally impossible to complete these missions immediately.

Not to mention that these exercises clearly required going to a gym and using fitness equipment.

He had never even heard of the names of many of those movements.

He would have to look up tutorials online, or find a professional fitness coach to help him after returning to Hangzhou.