The first lap is underway. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

From the perspective of aerial photography, you can see that on a hill on the border between Ohio and Pennsylvania in the United States, there is a team of cyclists in the winding mountain road, they are lively and smart, they are naughty and clever, they ride freely in the big green forest, they scramble to explode and explode.

The starting area of the mountain track is on the east side, and the riders start the race up the northwest and ride a 5.05km lap back to the starting area, where they enter lap 2 and are the first to complete 7 laps.

Overlooking the track from a helicopter, with its trees, grass and mud puddles, the procession of riders continued for about a kilometre, with timing points set up every 1 kilometre next to the track, crowds of fans scattered in the woods and grass, with the largest number of onlookers around the starting area, which was the starting point and the end point.

But when I saw a rider in the silver shirt No. 2040, he started from the back, but after going up the mountain, he was like a wild goat that had broken free, riding and jumping from mountain to mountain, and his skills were extremely agile and agile.

By this time, Dooc had already ridden past the second timing point, which was 2km on the first lap.

Several UCI crews stand at the timing point with instruments set up to record the split times of passing riders.

In this race, the timing point also assumes the responsibility of the maintenance point, where there are a bunch of spare tires and related tools, which rider can change the spare tire at the timing point if he is unlucky and has a puncture.

Look, there was a rider changing tires at the 2km timing point, and this guy was also struggling, and he had a flat tire after less than 2km on the first lap.

The rules of mountain racing are that if a tire is punctured, you can go to the timed pit to change the tire, and the rider can only change the tire by himself, and the team's technicians are not allowed to enter the timed pit point.

If the rim is skewed, it will be scrapped, and most drivers can only reluctantly retire from the race, carrying the scrapped car back to the starting area to change a new car to continue the race, it is better to retire directly.

That's why it's so important to say that a mountain bike that can't kill a small strong type, even if it is a tire change, it will take a lot of time.

The front and rear tires of Duke's car are replaced with DH tires, which have more particles and larger particles than XC tires, which can provide more effective grip, and are quite strong, and a girl with less strength may not be able to pierce this DH tire with a knife. Of course, there are disadvantages, this kind of tire is not fast, and Duke has to pay more physical strength to speed up the cadence if he wants to increase his speed.

The advice given to Du Ke by the coaching staff of the Chinese cycling team is: the first time you participate in an official competition, take the completion of the whole course as the primary goal, safety first, and do not deliberately pursue extreme speed. The car broke down, the tire burst, no matter how good your skills are, it's useless.

So Duke came to the race with his little strong car.

After 2 kilometres, Duke entered a steep slope that was arguably the hardest and most physically demanding section of the track.

Duke hangs the block, cuts the large gear ratio, and turns on the [King of the Hill], then climbs at full speed.

[King of the Hill] is suitable for climbing sections, which can save 30% of physical strength in 3 minutes, and this stunt must be used on the most difficult slopes.

"The king of the hill is here, no more gasping uphill!" Of course, Duke will be tired from climbing steep slopes, but he will not be too strenuous after saving 30% of his physical strength.

Douc made his way up the right side of the steep slope, and on the hardest part of the climb, he began to overtake strongly.

One, two, three...... Six people exploded in a row.

"Oh my God! The climb is also so fierce? A Dutch driver who was blown up by Duke exclaimed.

"Playing on the first lap? What routine? A Colombian driver wondered.

"Who is number 2040? Where did the nobodies pop up? ke？ Seems to be some kind of chemical element, Asian? "An American rider saw the number and name of the runner on the bib behind Duke, everyone is a veteran driver, and they all know the numbering rules, a total of 40 runners participated, and 2040 ranked last, and it was definitely not a famous mountain racer.

"Great God!" A Chinese rider shouted in Chinese, and he was Duke's teammate Wang Zhen.

Du Ke glanced back and found that Wang Zhen was also overtaken by himself.

Wang Zhen climbed the steep slope with great difficulty, he held the handle with his left hand, clenched his right hand into a fist and raised his arm towards Du Ke and shouted: "Great God, you rush first, don't worry about me, the great revolutionary cause is entrusted to you!" ”

Du Ke also made a swing gesture towards Wang Zhen, encouraging his teammates to work hard, and then continued to accelerate, and then exploded three more people, and rushed through this steep slope in one go.

After reaching the top of the slope, there is a gentle section, and Duke changes to the high-end and kicks a few feet to grab time.

There is an uphill slope and a downhill section, and a short gentle section is followed by a downhill section.

As the saying goes, it's easy to go up and down, and the same applies to mountain biking.

The downhill sections in the XC Mountain Race are not about buying time, but about ensuring a safe and smooth passage.

As Douce started to go downhill, he shifted his weight between the front and rear wheels, hooked the brake lever with two fingers, and lightly braked.

The front brake is used on flat roads and the rear brake is used on downhill slopes, and the brake lever is hooked with two fingers to avoid overexerting force and locking the wheels. Race-grade bikes tend to have very sensitive braking systems, so don't use too much force to operate the brakes.

The downhill section is a period of recuperation, and Duke is smooth through the downhill with the fourth timing point past the last kilometre to complete the first lap.

Duke noticed a few figures in front of him and accelerated his ride. In the first lap, Duke was last at the start, and after 4 kilometers of riding, he estimated that he had probably exceeded twenty or thirty people, rushed, and continued to explode.

Duke chased after the riders in front of him, chasing after him, and he saw the riders getting off one after another, and it seemed that they had encountered a difficult obstacle point.

This is a step, which belongs to the drop section, and the height of the step up and down is more than 2 meters.

The riders all pushed the cart down the steps, and no one dared to play the dolphin jump, including Duke.

With a drop of more than 2 meters, if you jump out at once, you will definitely hit the street. This is a difficult maneuver that can only be performed by extreme cyclists and requires special BMX.

Duke didn't dare to jump over the steps directly, so he took a standing riding position, curled up, bent his limbs, drove the steps, and rushed straight down.

Wow, wow, wow, wow.

In this way, Duke forced his way up the steps from high to low, until he reached the level at the bottom of the steps, and then accelerated his ride and drifted away.

The riders of the carts next to him were dumbfounded: "Is this guy still human?" ”

"The main thing is that his car is good."

"But he is also very courageous, and he directly makes a strong difference."

"Don't talk nonsense, No. 2040 has already left us far away, chase after us!"

Duke made a domineering drop, and exploded three more people at the steps, and after riding a flat road, he could already see the starting area in front of him.

That is, he is almost done riding a lap and is about to pass by the starting area.

Duke removed the kettle from the kettle cage, took two sips of water to rehydrate, and continued to accelerate closer to the starting area.

Coaches from all over the world were watching from the starting area, and Zhu Gui, the coach of the Chinese cycling team, saw Du Ke from a distance of more than 30 meters.

Director Zhu was surprised and delighted: "Duke was the last to set off, but he came back so early!" ”

At this time, Director Zhu found that Du Ke made a gesture at himself, and he understood it and immediately made a "5" gesture to Du Ke.

What Coach Zhu means: There are 5 people in front of you, and you are now ranked 6th.

In road cycling, we often see riders with earplugs in their ears and they communicate with the coaching team via radio. In mountain races, radio communication is rarely used, and communication between the rider and the coach is often done in the traditional way: yelling or gesticulating.

Du Ke knew this, and a gust of wind swept past Director Zhu, accelerating to catch up with the five riders in front of him. (To be continued.) )