Chapter 26 - Balance.
As soon as the coach finished speaking everyone started rushing forward. Yang Dao was also among the cyclists. Today, 8 people were racing each other. Even if the university supported the club. Not many people like road racing. They would prefer track and other sports. Yang Dao did not care about this. Even if he had not encountered the cycling team, he would have contently kept on riding on his own daily.
Cycling was not only a means of transport, it would help him stay fit and also communicate with the wind element. Yang Dao rode his bike at a steady pace. The people were following Ray in two queues of four bikes each. The boy who had given him advice about the roller earlier was riding by his side. Yang Dao kept his eyes on the road as he rode. The boy spoke, “My name is Icarus Stern. What is yours?” he stretched out his hand for a shaking hand with Yang Dao.
Yang Dao glanced at him minutely and replied, “I am Yang Dao. Nice to meet you Icarus.” he gave his hand a polite shake. Then he did not speak much. Yang Dao treated his words as gold. Only when necessary will he speak. Icarus spoke, “You are not very talkative, are you?”
Yang Dao smiled faintly at this. Icarus spoke, “My family will like you a lot. After all, we have stern as our last name. Though, I don’t like staying quiet.” he was smiling slightly as he spoke.
Yang Dao kept nodding to him and occasionally replied as they rode the five-kilometer stretch inside the busy city roads. The cyclists rode the side lane designated for bikes and soon came to the city exit. Then Ray shouted from ahead, “The real race has begun.”
Yang Dao was not going to relax. He fell out of the queue and pedaled hard. With a sudden burst of force, his bike accelerated and he caught up to Ray. Ray glanced at his side and saw Yang Dao. He spoke with a smile, “Dao, you just need to follow this road and the track is all lined, do not take any divergent turns. Also, if you see any splits, keep left.”
Yang Dao nodded and his bike shot off again. The other eight people were shocked to see his rapid pace. Then they shook their heads calling him amateur and that he will lose his stamina and stuff. Felix on the back heard all this and he spoke, “Do you guys think, you can overtake the regular team members and also win a race against Thomas?”
They all shook their heads and Ray chuckled as he said, “Yang Dao can. He did it only yesterday. You guys should catch up to him first before you call him an amateur.”
Six out of seven people were shocked. Icarus was the only one who had a bright spark flashing in his eyes. He also fell out of the queue and accelerated to follow Yang Dao. Ray also accelerated and this time he was not passed by Icarus. But the new boy was also a veteran in bike racing and passed Ray after some effort. Ray gave him the same directions as he gave to Yang Dao. Icarus only nodded as he started to chase Yang Dao who was twenty meters ahead of him.
Yang Dao rode his bike without a care in the world. His feet moved constantly with the sync to his breathing. His pace was very calm. While he ate last night, he used the PC in the room and researched road racing. The first round of the race, flat run. The second section of the race, mountain climbing. The third part of the race, Descend. Sometimes there are only the first two rounds in a race. Yang Dao meticulously read the blogs to gain some knowledge and not end up a total dunce in the race.
Yang Dao was confident in his physique but he was not over-confident. He was riding at a calm pace, without exerting too much pressure on himself. He was aware of someone gaining over him. But this was just the start so he did not mind. The real race would start when they start climbing the mountain and descend straight to the finish. His eyes were glowing with sparkles. Yang Dao was enjoying the scenery.
Outside the jade city, there were vast farming grounds, the horizon was covered with greenery and some people could be seen working in the fields. Yang Dao looked at them with a smile and some aunts even waved back at him. Yang Dao returned the gesture with a bright smile and moved on. Icarus finally caught up after one Kilometer and spoke, “Bro, you are very leisurely. How can you ride like this.”
Yang Dao replied, “Because I enjoy the scenery as I ride. Because I want to see what lies ahead as I rush on the road. Do not always think about defeating the opponent. Bikes are made for fun and joy. We ride together to share the joy and make each other better.” his calm tone woke up Icarus. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
The dao child has spoken and all the burdens on the mind loosened up. Icarus’s breathing calmed down and his foot movement became smoother with every pedal. He tried to contemplate why did he agree to Yang Dao’s words. He glanced at the boy riding the bike beside him. For a moment it was as if a king was riding by his side, immersed in the leisure of the constantly changing scenery behind them.
Yang Dao and Icarus then kept riding their bikes peacefully. The sprint section which was 30 kilometers long only took them 45 minutes to complete. Unknowingly their speed has risen up. They soon reached the foot of the mountain road. Yang Dao clicked on his gear switch. Icarus followed his pace and they kept riding in the mountainous tracks. The mountain was used for terrace farming and Yang Dao seemed to have been mesmerized by the sights. He has never seen such a beautiful place. The ruby mountain had a cascading design so it was suitable for terrace farming. Yang Dao unknowingly started to pedal faster.
His bike moved faster and faster, creating wind resistance. Icarus followed him like a wingman. The two unconsciously fell into a formation and the wind resistance was reduced by a lot. These two did not care about anything and kept climbing the mountain with a smile on their faces. They did not even know that the coach and the rest of the team were following them with a bus and they were monitoring them with a drone as well.
Thomas sat down with the coach in the second seat glancing at the monitor set up in the bus. He spoke, “These two are good.”
The coach nodded and said, “It is as if they are not competing. They are enjoying their ride. Yang Dao is controlling the pace very well. Let’s see when will they start racing.”
The rest of the people nodded. Ray and Felix were relieved by the second-year students because they wanted to watch the two leaders compete. The bus had now picked up three people who could not continue racing. They also forgot their exhaustion and watched the screen intently.
Yang Dao suddenly spoke after an hour, “Icarus, you are losing the sense of balance.”
Icarus reacted, “Huh, how come? I am riding fine.”
Yang Dao replied, “You are losing yourself to the bliss of enjoyment. Did you forget that we are here to race? If you always focus on your opponent, you will lose the scenery. Yet if you enjoy the scenery too much you will forget that your opponent is already far ahead. That is the balance I speak of.” with that said he accelerated his bike.
Icarus who was losing his sense of spiritual balance woke up. He accelerated but Yang Dao was not joking this time. He rode his bike fast. Increasing his cadence, his breathing kept in sync with his feet. His body was lowered even more to resist the wind resistance. Yang Dao could have used the wind sense and completely undo the barrier but he did not want to cheat. Icarus caught up to him was gritting his teeth.
They were riding faster than before and Yang Dao was neck-to-neck with Icarus. It was unknown when only 500 meters remained of the mountain trail. Icarus suddenly stood up on his bike and clicked on the gear. His bike took the lead by a tire. Yang Dao also reacted and immediately stood up and he clicked on his gear switch as well. Yet his gear did not lower instead he switches to a higher front gear. His bike seemed to have grown wings and coupled with his high cadence. It flew past Icarus.
Icarus had no idea about giving up and kept pedaling as he danced with his bike slowly closing the gap between the two.
Inside the bus, exclamations rang out. Thomas spoke with a sigh, “If not for the sake of fairness. This monster would have ridden his own bike and Icarus would be doubting his life.”