Chapter 500: Jealousy Is Making Me Unrecognizable (2)

Around 4:30 PM, the group training event concluded smoothly.

Huang Chong and his six lieutenants conscientiously completed the tasks assigned by the team and the organizers.

Throughout the group ride, the fans who followed along took photos and drafted behind the pros, creating a cheerful and harmonious atmosphere.

In today’s age of audio and video, most fans use GoPros to record their rides. Being able to film the entire ride with Huang Chong and the whole Red Bull Bora team made everyone feel that buying the VIP package was well worth the money.

However, the number of participants was ultimately limited, and many more people couldn’t get a spot, leaving them filled with envy.

They could only hope that when Huang Chong returned for next year’s Tour of Guangxi, there would be more in-person fan events with opportunities for face-to-face interaction.

But in reality, the fans who were able to participate in this event had also been screened by the organizers.

They were either wealthy “Brother Fu” types with deep pockets like Dewey, popular cycling vloggers and independent commentators from all over the country, or people with connections, like Huang Xiaocong.

In short, the group ride was designed so that the participating fans could use their own influence to edit and release the footage they shot, thereby inspiring more people online to get into the sport of road cycling.

This was a standard marketing strategy from the organizers, and Huang Chong, of course, knew about it in advance. But there wasn’t much he could say about such matters.

However, just as the organizers had anticipated, when these cycling vloggers began posting their videos from the group ride with Huang Chong later that day, the content instantly went viral across all major short-video platforms, social media, and fan groups.

A Professional Cyclist from a World Tour Team helping you draft and leading the ride! ‘How great would it be if I could have been there too?’

That thought filled the heart of nearly every cycling fan who admired Huang Chong.

For example, the admin of a certain race-viewing group—who not only rides himself but also serves as a commentator on the World Tour for other fans—posted his ride video with Huang Chong. It immediately blew up several of his fan groups.

“Hey everyone, here’s the video of my ride with Yellow God today. I was short on time, so I just did a quick edit on my phone. It’s a bit rough, but check it out for now.

The full ride video will be posted on all my social media accounts later. Feel free to watch, like, and save it!

Also, after the ride, I had Yellow God sign some postcards of himself and a few water bottles. Once the race is over, I’ll host a special giveaway and raffle them off to you guys.

Stay tuned!

As soon as the admin posted this, the fans in the QQ group were practically crying with excitement.

This was especially true for fans who couldn’t attend in person because of school or work.

In the thousand-member group, people started thanking the admin profusely, with everyone wanting to call him their ‘godfather’.

Of course, aside from the slim hope of winning the raffle, they were genuinely envious that the admin got to meet his idol.

Some asked about the group ride, while others asked about Huang Chong personally.

Some female fans even asked the admin directly about Huang Chong’s personality and whether he was as handsome in person as he looked in videos.

The admin couldn’t possibly answer the flood of questions scrolling past, so he picked a few of the more interesting ones to reply to.

For example, someone asked:

“Admin, admin, how intense was the group ride? Can a regular rider really keep up with Yellow God and his team?”

The admin replied directly:

“Yes, you can. The intensity wasn’t high, probably for safety reasons on the organizers’ part. The average speed for the whole ride was about 30 km/h. We rode 60 km with Yellow God in total, which took a little over two hours. Most of the fans who participated were able to finish the ride without any problems.”

“Admin, when World Tour Cyclists ride, is it true what those memes say, that it’s like they have engines in their thighs? Riding at 30 km/h, did they even break a sweat?”

“It’s not that they didn’t sweat—it’s still pretty hot in Guangxi in October. But the stability of a World Tour Cyclist while riding truly doesn’t waver for the entire duration. Their base power output is just too high. I spent most of the time riding next to Yellow God, so I paid close attention to his gear ratio and cadence. Whether on flats or climbs, he didn’t need to change his rear cassette gears at all. To maintain 30 km/h on a steep climb, I basically had to get out of the saddle and rock the bike just to keep up, and even then I was starting to grimace in pain. But Yellow God and his teammates were just sitting in their saddles at the front of the main group the whole time, chatting and laughing as if it were a game. The gap in our abilities is just immense.”

“Admin, what’s Yellow God’s personality like? If you ran into him on the street and asked for an autograph, do you think he’d say yes?”

“I think he would. Yellow God is really kind. For this giveaway for you all, I paid out of pocket to print fifty postcards and bought an extra twenty Red Bull Bora Team-edition water bottles for him to sign, and he signed every single one. And when Yellow God found out that I do free commentary for fans in China, he even gave me a team-issue cycling kit and a Red Bull team-issue helmet that he had set aside for himself. But there’s only one of each, so I’m keeping them for my personal collection. I definitely can’t raffle those off to you guys.”

“Admin, the team kit and Red Bull helmet that Huang Chong gave you… it couldn’t be the Rainbow Jersey and the custom-painted Olympic golden helmet, could it?”

“Yep, the Rainbow Jersey and the golden helmet, both with Yellow God’s autograph on them. [smile.jpg]”

“AHHHH, IT REALLY IS THE RAINBOW JERSEY AND THE GOLDEN HELMET!!!”

“That stuff would cost thousands if you bought it yourself, right? Yellow God is too nice! I’m so freaking jealous of the admin!!!”

“Same, so jealous. I hate my scumbag boss right now. He wouldn’t let me take time off to go to the event!!! [crying.jpg]”

“Jealousy is making me ugly!! Admin, can you DM me your address? I need to find a chance to sneak into your house and steal the Rainbow Jersey and the golden helmet!!”

Admin: “[wiping_sweat.jpg]”

…

With the in-person event over, only one final day of training remained before the official start of the Tour of Guangxi.

Once the major teams began their official training, the intensity was far beyond what any amateur fan could handle.

During team training, the riders were protected by a team car at the front, so the organizers didn’t need to close the roads. This meant many local cyclists could ride behind the professional cyclists.

Of course, they couldn’t get too close to the professional team’s formation. Behind the peloton were the teams’ motorcycle-mounted coaching staff, who controlled the area, warned off amateurs, and reminded them to keep a safe distance.

The riders’ safety was always the top priority.

During official daily training, Huang Chong and his team would generally bring their speed up to around 35-40 km/h, which required maintaining a power output of about 260-300 watts for the entire ride.

For them, this intensity was still just a Zone 2 aerobic ride. But for amateur fans, being able to keep up for even a few kilometers was an impressive feat.

This gave amateurs a stark realization: if professional cyclists were to truly ramp up the intensity, they would be dropped in an instant, even on flat ground.

Furthermore, in an official race, a World Tour Team’s average speed on a flat stage is never below 45 km/h. Often, they’ll push the pace to 50 km/h right from the start. An amateur rider wouldn’t even be in the same league.

Even among the invited members of the National Team, very few riders manage to complete the entire Tour of Guangxi each year.

And so, as the final day of training came to a close, the main event of the Tour of Guangxi, eagerly awaited by countless fans across China, was finally about to begin.

This year’s Tour of Guangxi route had been significantly adjusted compared to last year. For instance, the organizers moved the Qingxiu Mountain circuit race in Nanning to the final day of competition.

Additionally, the first race day of the year would not be held in Beihai, but would instead be a city circuit race in Fangchenggang.

The official race was about to begin.