Chapter 162: Chapter 119: God of the Final 1KM Bends (Part 2)
’Well, this is just great. All this bicycling is just taking him farther and farther away.’
’First it was Thailand, then Qinghai, and now it’s Europe. Who knows, maybe he’ll have to go all the way to America next.’
’Those are all places with completely different time zones.’
Of course, what Liang Xiaomei was really concerned about was this:
How would her son manage, riding his bike in foreign lands where he didn’t even speak the language?
...
Dewey, who was waiting at the finish line, immediately saw the update that Huang Chong was trailing Lutsenko by three seconds.
As someone watching the race in person, he was obviously far more nervous than Huang Chong’s family was back home in front of their TV.
As time passed, he watched most of the riders who had started earlier cross the finish arch one after another, which only made him more anxious to see Huang Chong’s final time.
To be honest, based on the official data from the first half of the race, as long as Huang Chong could maintain a speed of 49 km/h, he was practically guaranteed a medal.
The problem was that he was only three seconds behind the first-place rider, Lutsenko.
That made the difference between a silver and a gold medal absolutely crucial.
With such a minuscule gap, a comeback victory was entirely possible.
This not only pushed Dewey to the edge of his seat, desperate to know the final result, but also left every Chinese fan watching the race in breathless suspense.
After all, Huang Chong was representing his country on home turf. Who wouldn’t want the gold medal to stay at home?
But only the expert fans who truly knew Lutsenko understood just how difficult it would be to win this gold medal.
"Damn, this foreigner is way too strong. Look at his cadence and average speed—they haven’t dropped at all. It’s terrifyingly consistent.
Is he a fucking robot?
You have to understand, the second half of this course at Qiandao Lake is much harder than the first. The return leg has way more climbs.
If this guy maintains his current speed for the entire race, I have a bad feeling about Huang Chong’s chances of winning!"
Dewey, Zhou Ming, and the others were all seasoned road cycling fans. They didn’t just ride themselves; they also loved watching professional races.
They just preferred watching the World Tour over domestic competitions.
"Honestly, I don’t think it’s a big deal even if Huang Chong loses," Zhou Ming said, his expression much calmer than Dewey’s.
After all, Huang Chong was just a casual friend of his, not someone he was particularly close to. He couldn’t possibly be as invested as Dewey.
But Dewey was clearly unhappy with Zhou Ming’s attitude and snapped,
"What’s that supposed to mean? Brother Zhou, you came all the way out here to watch, and you’re not even rooting for Huang Chong?
Didn’t you two bury the hatchet a long time ago?
My bro has never held a grudge against you. Seriously!"
"Bullshit! Am I really as petty as you make me out to be?"
Zhou Ming was also getting a little pissed that Dewey was dredging up their old drama. His expression soured as he retorted,
"Have you even thought about it? Do you know what level Kazakhstan is at? The Astana Team is basically Kazakhstan’s National Team.
How long has Huang Chong even been cycling? A little over a year, tops.
The fact that he can already go head-to-head with a top rider who’s been in the World Tour for years is already insane, alright?"
"That’s not good enough! How could it be?
What does it matter how long he’s been riding?
My bro is a natural talent. He just got a late start. What does that prove?
Besides, even though he started cycling late, he was an athlete in college. He’s got the foundation!"
Dewey continued,
"And he’s only a few seconds behind his opponent! That proves their skill levels are actually pretty similar.
Maybe Huang Chong will get luckier on the way back, face less wind resistance. It’s only three seconds! Why can’t he pull off a comeback and snatch the gold medal at the Asian Games?"
Hearing this, Zhou Ming almost laughed in exasperation. All he could say was,
"Alright, alright, you’re right about everything, okay?
Why don’t you start doing a ritual right now? Pray to the Wind God for protection, maybe get a freak gust of wind to blow that foreigner off course and lower his average speed."
Seeing that Zhou Ming was deliberately mocking him, Dewey shot him a fierce glare and flipped him the bird as a sign of his "respect."
...
The second half of this race segment was indeed more difficult than the first.
As the one actually riding the course, Huang Chong felt this more keenly than anyone.
The first half clearly had more downhill sections than the second.
Since it was an out-and-back course, this meant that for every thrilling downhill he had enjoyed on the way out, he would now have to suffer his way back up.
But the rolling hills of Qiandao Lake were nothing compared to the Tier One mountain passes he had spent the last three and a half months riding through in the west.
Overall, even with the increased difficulty of the second half, he was confident he could maintain the average speed he had set in the first.
However, if he wanted to increase his speed on top of that, he would have to save his longest, most powerful anaerobic push for the final sprint to avoid blowing up his heart rate and power output prematurely.
Lutsenko, who had started two minutes ahead of him, had just successfully finished the race.
The moment Lutsenko crossed the line, Chen Junyi’s voice came over the radio:
"Your rival has finished. Final average speed is 49.414 km/h, with a total time of 48:05.011.
As he crossed the line, your current total time was 46:00.396.
If you subtract the two-minute start interval, that means you’re actually trailing him by almost five seconds."
But Huang Chong, the last rider on the course and pushing himself to the absolute limit, couldn’t actually make out the precise decimals in Chen Junyi’s words.
Comments