Besides, her parents had provided a superb learning environment for her since childhood, so everything she had today was a matter of course.

So, it was certainly impossible for her to truly empathize with someone as ordinary as Huang Chong.

But after a moment’s thought, she replied seriously:

"The natural aptitude you mentioned does exist, and we humans have no ability to actively modify it.

But the words of the ancients also hold true.

While people’s aptitudes certainly differ, the course of a lifetime is always similar.

In this life, isn’t everyone just trying to secure food, clothing, shelter, and the basic necessities?

As long as you find your mission in this life, you can live out your own worth. That’s all that really matters.

Besides, you may not be a top student, and your talent for writing may not be that great, but does that make you mediocre or just one of the masses?

You have such top-tier cardiopulmonary and physical gifts; it’s as if fate itself has endowed you with a natural talent for endurance sports.

On top of that, you’re so passionate about cycling and have been able to turn your hobby into a profession. In reality, countless people would envy you for that."

Chen Junyi paused briefly before continuing:

"To be honest, I envy you too, even though cycling training is incredibly tough.

But I know if you weren’t truly passionate about it, how could you persevere day after day through biting winds, bitter rain, and sweltering heatwaves?"

Huang Chong chose to remain silent.

He was no match for Chen Junyi in an argument.

’If they kept talking, the shallowness of my own thoughts would be exposed.’

’Better to just focus on riding my bike.’

...

After briefly reviewing all the competing teams and riders, and after detailed discussions with National Team Head Coach Han and Team Manager Coach Li, Huang Chong, Chen Junyi, and Brother Xiaoma headed straight for the airport to fly to distant Qinghai.

As a fellow National Team rider, Brother Xiaoma would of course also be competing in the Tour of Qinghai Lake on behalf of the team.

As for the National Team members who had participated in the Asian Championships with them before, such as Niu Yikui and Liu Jiankun, this time they would compete with their own Intercontinental Teams and would not take up National Team spots.

Huang Chong had already learned from Coach Han that his teammates for this event, aside from Brother Xiaoma, would be five other riders: Teng Geng, Sun Changsheng, Su Haoyu, Ju Jinyang, and Yu Yuanfeng.

Among them, he was only relatively familiar with Su Haoyu.

Because in his previous life, Su Haoyu was the second Chinese rider after Ji Cheng to reach the World Tour level and join the Astana Team.

’But in this life, I’ll definitely join the World Tour before Su Haoyu.’

’So I can only hope that history doesn’t change, that at the end of next year, Xidesheng will still invest in Astana and send Su Haoyu to the Astana First Team to compete on the World Tour!’

’That way, in 2025, two Chinese riders will appear on the World Tour stage together. For introducing professional road cycling culture to China, that would be the best news imaginable.’

Of course, that was all in the future.

After Huang Chong’s group of three arrived in Qinghai, Coach Han had even arranged for someone from the local sports bureau to personally pick them up from the airport and had all their living arrangements sorted out in advance.

These were the perks of being a core member of the National Team.

As long as they were in the country, no matter where they went to compete, the higher-ups would have their training and daily lives meticulously arranged.

"In this Tour of Qinghai Lake, your biggest rivals for the general classification will undoubtedly be the members of the five pro teams.

Especially the riders from Italy and Spain.

Of course, the roster Huaxing Team is fielding this time is not to be underestimated; it’s almost entirely composed of their top international riders.

All in all, you’re under a lot of pressure.

First, the Tour of Qinghai Lake has a total of eight stages, which means eight days of racing.

Just keeping up with the relentless pace set by the pro teams and finishing the race will be difficult enough.

I’ve done a lot of research. This kind of high-intensity stage race is a major test of a rider’s ability to recover.

Secondly, not only do you have to endure eight days of racing, but you must also pace yourselves and manage your energy, ensuring you save your best form for the most difficult climbs—the ones that can decide the general classification.

Then, you find an opportunity for one decisive, winning move!"

The evening they arrived in Qinghai, Chen Junyi pulled out a stack of documents on the Tour of Qinghai Lake that she had researched and prepared beforehand, and began to analyze the race for Huang Chong and Brother Xiaoma.

Brother Xiaoma felt a massive headache coming on just from her opening remarks.

He knew his own limits perfectly well. It wasn’t that he wanted to be a downer, but he knew he simply wasn’t a general classification rider. He replied with a wry smile:

"Coach Chen, your words are putting a lot of pressure on me.

You should discuss the general classification strategy with Handsome Huang here in detail. I’m just here for the sprint stages.

Honestly, just as you said, I’m a sprinter. I’m not chasing the overall classification.

As long as I can finish the entire tour without getting cut for time or withdrawing early, I’ll be more than happy!"

Seeing that Brother Xiaoma had such a clear understanding of his own role, Chen Junyi and Huang Chong had nothing more to say.

It was true that in a stage race, sprinters aimed for the flat sprint stages.

Their goal was the Green Jersey for the sprint king, not the Yellow Jersey for the general classification leader.

It was worth mentioning that the Tour of Qinghai Lake had five different leader’s jerseys.

In addition to the Yellow Jersey for the general classification leader, the Green Jersey for the sprint king, the Polka Dot Jersey for the mountains classification leader, and the White Jersey for the best young rider—all similar to the Tour de France—there was also a Blue Jersey awarded exclusively to the best Asian rider.

Therefore, the Blue Jersey was also known as the "Best Asian Rider" jersey.

’I definitely didn’t come to the Tour of Qinghai Lake to aim for the Blue Jersey.’

’Especially since this year’s Tour of Qinghai Lake isn’t as difficult as next year’s will be, when two World Tour teams are even coming to compete.’

’What I need right now are UCI points. The overall champion of the Tour of Qinghai Lake gets 200 points, so of course I’m here for the Yellow Jersey.’

"Alright, Brother Xiaoma, I’m going to train on the climbing stage tomorrow. Are you still coming with me?"

Huang Chong asked Brother Xiaoma.

"I’ll skip the climbing stage. No matter how much I train, I can’t out-climb you. It’s better to focus my attention on the flat sprint stages."

Brother Xiaoma shrugged.

Huang Chong had no objections and nodded.

"Alright, then let’s split up for now.

You can have the staff from the bureau take you to the flat stage to get familiar with the course.

Coach Chen and I, along with the local staff, will go scout the climbing stage."

...

The next morning, while it was still early, Huang Chong and Chen Junyi had breakfast at the bureau before preparing to head out for training.

Since it was a high-altitude region, the temperature difference between day and night was significant. Additionally, with Qinghai being in the western part of the country, the sunrise was also about an hour later.

The sun had just risen at six in the morning, and the temperature was only around ten degrees.

But Huang Chong had a special constitution. He wasn’t afraid of sub-zero temperatures, so ten degrees naturally had no effect on him.

However, it was his first time training on a plateau like Xining, with an average altitude of over 2,200 meters, so he still needed to acclimatize.

The Tour of Qinghai Lake had eight stages in total. The first was a city circuit race held in Xining.

The race consisted of eight laps, covering a total distance of 108.8 km.

On laps 2, 4, and 6, there was a sprint point located at the steepest part of a mid-lap incline.

’But the gradient on a stage like this is too shallow. It’s a pure sprinter’s stage, so there’s definitely no need for me to train on it.’

He had the staff from the local sports bureau drive him directly to the route for the second stage: the Doba-Guide stage.

Huang Chong didn’t know much about Doba, but it was actually home to the National High-Altitude Sports Training Base.

Moreover, the home base of Qinghai’s local team, the Tianyoude Intercontinental Team, was also located here.

So when Huang Chong arrived in Doba and was riding his road bike toward the Laji Mountain Pass, the highest point in this year’s race, he soon encountered members of the Tianyoude team on the road, who were also training there in advance.

It was obvious that as Qinghai riders competing on their home turf, they placed great importance on this race held on their own doorstep and were all eager to achieve good results.

However, Huang Chong didn’t pay too much attention to the others, because as he started to climb, the long-absent system text unexpectedly refreshed and appeared again:

[Host detected training at high altitude. Please complete a 50 km ride with an average speed no lower than 25 km/h. Reward: 100 Basic Optimization Value points, High Altitude Low Oxygen Adaptation Enhancer x1]

[High Altitude Low Oxygen Adaptation Enhancer: After consuming this agent, the host can adapt to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments, completely avoiding altitude sickness and enhancing the host’s threshold cycling ability in hypoxic or anaerobic conditions.]

...