Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

He got back to the hotel, took a quick shower, and changed into some clean clothes. He was all set to take Chen Junyi out—no, to have her take him out, on his dime—to find a Chinese restaurant and treat his stomach to a feast when a call came in from the team.

Less than an hour had passed.

Huang Chong didn’t understand foreign languages, so Chen Junyi naturally took the call.

The call ended up lasting a long time. He just stood there, staring blankly, unable to understand a word of the gibberish Chen Junyi was speaking with the team.

This made him feel rather regretful.

’Why didn’t I study English harder back in school?’

After talking for over ten minutes, Chen Junyi finally hung up. Huang Chong immediately asked:

"What were you guys talking about for so long? What did the team say? Did I not pass the test? Or is there some other problem?"

Chen Junyi gave Huang Chong a strange look. After a moment of thought, she answered truthfully:

"The team says you passed the test, and they want you to go over and sign the contract right away.

Also, the team asked if we’ve rented an apartment.

If not, they can help us find a place through their internal channels, with a better deal on rent and everything.

Plus, it would be close to the team base, so you could cycle to training every day."

"Huh? This foreign team is really on the ball, huh? They even help us with housing.

In that case, let’s go! We’ll sign the contract at the team base first, and then we can go celebrate with some Chinese food!"

Huang Chong said with a smile, ready to head out the door.

But Chen Junyi didn’t move. Instead, she said:

"There’s one more thing. The team asked if I wanted to apply for a translator position with them, specifically to be your interpreter.

They said they’d have to find a translator on the market anyway, and since I know foreign languages, they might as well see if I’m interested in applying.

But I feel like the team is trying a little too hard to please you. So, I wanted to get your opinion."

"Let them try to please me. My test data was off the charts; of course they’re going to treat me like a prized possession.

Just say yes. That way, you can keep working with me—

But you have to go back to the United Kingdom for school in the second half of the year. Will they agree to you only working for half a year?"

Chen Junyi nodded.

"I already explained my situation to them. They said it’s no problem. When it’s time for me to go to school, they’ll just find another translator."

"Then there’s no problem. If they’re willing to pay you a salary, isn’t that great?

I hear the salaries over here aren’t low at all.

If you convert that back to our country’s currency, you could earn a nice bit of extra cash before you start school!"

"When it comes to money, you suddenly get so sharp. Huang Chong, are you obsessed with money?"

Chen Junyi looked at him with a beaming smile and explained:

"Actually, considering the cost of living and purchasing power in Europe, one euro feels a lot like one yuan back home.

Back in China, a braised fish costs twenty or thirty yuan.

A translator isn’t some high-and-mighty job. At most, it pays two or three thousand a month. There’s no way you can save that up and take it back to China to get rich off the exchange rate."

"Yes, you can. Why not?

Just use my card for your daily expenses. You can save your own salary.

I’ve joined the team now, anyway. If I’m really broke, I’ll just go win a few championships, and then I’ll have money!"

Seeing Huang Chong speak so casually about winning championships, Chen Junyi was exasperated. She quickly reminded him:

"You’ve joined a World Tour Team now. Winning championships isn’t as simple as it was back in China. The intensity of the races here is very high.

And your opponents are now the top 500 cyclists in the world. You shouldn’t underestimate them.

Also, even though you have a lot of savings in your account, this isn’t China.

After converting it to euros, you only have a little over four hundred thousand.

We have to be frugal!"

When Huang Chong heard his converted bank balance, his heart sank.

Back in China, he had worked hard for a year and a half to save up nearly 3 million yuan.

But because of the exchange rate, his money had shrunk dramatically.

’Looks like making money is more urgent than ever.’

’Otherwise, if I keep relying on this meager team salary, I’ll be broke in no time.’

"Now that you put it that way, I’m even more eager to win some championships.

Otherwise, based on your calculations, if I don’t land a big contract or two, I’ll have come all the way to Europe to cycle just to go home penniless—

That would be too embarrassing!"

At this point, Chen Junyi was completely certain that Huang Chong definitely had a money-grubbing streak.

Not that it was a flaw. After all, in this day and age, you don’t have to be obsessed with money, but you absolutely can’t be without it.

"Mm, well, after you sign the contract, you should train hard. Try to show the team your strength as soon as possible so you can get into the main rotation.

Once you’re a main rider, even if we don’t talk about competing for titles, you’ll at least get to participate in the three Grand Tours and the five Monument classics."

Hearing the names of these races, Huang Chong was indeed thrilled.

Those racecourses were now so close.

He just needed to take one more step forward, and they would be within his grasp.

In the end, after their discussion, Huang Chong and Chen Junyi went to the team base together to sign the contract.

Afterwards, with a recommendation from a staff member, they found a two-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and balcony in a residential complex just a ten-minute walk from the team base.

Now with an apartment and official jobs, they finally felt settled in this foreign land.

When Chen Junyi took Huang Chong to the supermarket to buy daily necessities, she also bought a pile of ingredients, deciding it was better to cook their own meals.

After all, eating out was still too much of a risk for Huang Chong.

The apartment they found was furnished and had appliances, but to ensure everything was clean—as Chen Junyi was a bit of a neat freak—she bought new pots, pans, and dishes.

After a hearty celebratory dinner, the two officially began their life of striving in a foreign country.

Huang Chong trained with the team, and Chen Junyi acted as his translator while also preparing nutritious meals for him every day.

The guy had a purely Chinese stomach. Even when the team traveled to Spain, Belgium, Italy, or France for training, and the team chef was with them on the bus, he just couldn’t get used to the food.

So, in addition to her official duties, Chen Junyi also had to prepare nutritious meals for him to ensure he wouldn’t go hungry and affect his training condition.

As the winter training period progressed, other riders began to arrive at the team base—both new transfers like Huang Chong who had just joined the Bora Team this year, and long-standing veterans.

Even the team’s star rider, Roglič, had returned for training.

Including Huang Chong, there were 29 riders in total.

Among them, besides Roglič, were riders he was familiar with from his past life, such as Vlasov, Martínez, Lipowitz, Sindel, Van Boppel, Jungels, and Sobrero.

These riders made up the core of the Bora Team’s main roster.

It was a bit of a shame that the German rider Politt, who was still with the Bora Team in 2023, had transferred to UAE this year.

The result went without saying: that big-toothed grin had been instrumental in carrying Pogačar during this year’s Tour de France.

Of course, rider transfers had nothing to do with Huang Chong. He just needed to worry about himself.

As time moved into 2024, Sports Director Aldag released the new season’s full World Tour race calendar to all the riders.

It listed a total of 35 races, starting from mid-January 2024 and ending in mid-October.

They were as follows:

[16.01 - 21.01] Tour of Australia

[28.01] Ocean Road Race

[19.02 - 25.02] UAE Tour

[24.02] News Paper Tour

[02.03] Strade Bianche

[03.03 - 10.03] Paris-Nice

[04.03 - 10.03] Double Sea Race

[16.03] Milan-San Remo

[18.03 - 24.03] Catalonia Grand Prix

[20.03] Bruges-De Panne Classic

[22.03] E3 Classic

[24.03] Gent-Wevelgem Classic

[27.03] Crossing Flanders

[31.03] Tour of Flanders

[01.04 - 06.04] Tour of the Basque Country

[07.04] Paris-Roubaix

[14.04] Amstel Gold Race

[17.04] Flèche Wallonne

[21.04] Liège-Bastogne-Liège

[23.04 - 28.04] Tour de Romandie

[01.05] Eschborn-Frankfurt

[04.05 - 26.05] Giro d’Italia

[02.06 - 09.06] Tour de Dauphine

[09.06 - 16.06] Tour of Switzerland

[29.06 - 21.07] Tour de France

[10.08] San Sebastian Classic Race

[12.08 - 18.08] Tour of Poland

[17.08 - 08.09] Vuelta a España

[25.08] Bretagne Classic

[28.08 - 01.09] Tour of Benelux

[08.09] Beamer Classic

[13.09] Quebec Grand Prix

[15.09] Montreal Grand Prix

[12.10] Tour of Lombardy

[15.10 - 20.10] Tour of Guangxi