novelraw Chapter 316 - 254: Sword Flight
Chapter 316 - 254: Sword Flight
Li Weimin pondered for a moment before continuing, "However, this challenge is neither reasonable nor fair. Whether to take on the challenge still depends on your choice."
Upon hearing this, Wang Ye’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he lowered his head to think, "Utah mountain biking? Using a bicycle?"
With his extensive experience and knowledge of extreme sports, he naturally understood the implication of Li Weimin’s words.
Utah is located in the western United States, with approximately 35% of its land being desert and arid regions, earning it the reputation of an outdoor paradise. It hosts five major national parks, 43 state parks, seven national monuments, and two national recreation areas. The abundant bentonite rock formations there look like the surface of Mars, extremely rugged.
Utah mountain biking is the challenge content of the "Emergence of Power" in the movie "Extreme Thief," where challengers undertake a cross-country biking challenge in the high mountain canyons of the Moab Desert in Utah, racing at high speeds on dangerous mountain paths.
But in the movie, the protagonist relied on a motorcycle for the Utah mountain biking rather than a bicycle.
Li Weimin’s earlier suggestion of completing Utah mountain biking using a bicycle is definitely a very crazy idea. It’s important to note that mountain biking not only relies on control and skill but also high engine power to speed through the rugged and dangerous high rock mountainous areas.
For someone whose thigh strength is slightly lacking, even pedaling a bicycle up a 10-degree incline is extremely difficult, let alone the nearly 70-80 degree steep inclines scattered throughout Utah. Without the incredible horsepower and traction of a motorcycle, sprinting up those slopes is almost impossible.
Even if the cyclist’s own strength is substantial, ordinary bicycle components can hardly withstand such levels of bumpiness and power release. The chain and crankset alone are prone to deform or even snap on the spot.
The reason motorcycles can explode with power like that of a bicycle structure is because their components are hard enough. Unlike bicycles that mainly use lightweight carbon fiber and aluminum as materials, motorcycle components are more often made of high-density steel.
In Wang Ye’s last bicycle design, he also considered this, so most of the components were made of steel or tungsten. Even for areas needing weight reduction, a steel-wrapped aluminum alloy configuration was used. The only advantage of aluminum alloy as a material for vehicle parts is its light weight, but it lacks hardness and durability.
Though steel is heavy, it is relatively more durable. Most motorcycle gear components are made of steel because the powerful engine would quickly wear out and break aluminum alloy, which is typically only used in short-term competition sprints.
Similarly, if he replaced the bicycle components he designed with steel, designed them in extremely thick forms, they could withstand Wang Ye’s full power release without problems. Therefore, the other components he designed were also thickened and strengthened. Even the tires were widened for better grip, and the chain was thickened to the size of a hammer handle. To accommodate so many thickened components, the frame was much larger than regular road or track bikes, almost reaching the size of an off-road motorcycle.
Thus, Wang Ye’s custom bicycle is definitely capable of tackling Utah mountain biking. His leg power output is already not less than that of a competitive racing motorcycle. The slopes a motorcycle could climb, he might also be able to conquer.
Thinking of this, Wang Ye pondered for a moment and then said:
"I think it’s feasible, but it needs some additional design adjustments."
With a new target, naturally, he needed to modify the original design according to the conditions of this new aim.
Although off-road functionality was already considered in the original design, it seems a bit insufficient at the moment.
Li Weimin nodded, "Go ahead, I’ll send it to the factory later."
The two of them stood on the deck and had a brief chat.
Soon, the small yacht sailed to a spot more than thirty meters away from the shore. By this point, they were far away from the beach, and the luggage they had piled on the shore had shrunk to the size of dots.
Wang Ye assessed the situation, took the lead by jumping into the sea with his surfboard.
Other members of the Red Bull Challenge Team also leapt into the water and started training. As it was their first time surfing from a yacht more than thirty meters offshore, most Red Bull Team members were a bit flustered. They plunged into the water before making it even a dozen meters out.
As expected, Wang Ye handled it effortlessly, maintaining perfect control throughout and surfing steadily to the beach.
Today’s rain was heavier than yesterday’s, so the waves reached over five meters, nearing the height of a three-story building. Combined with the pouring rain, the increasing sea current speed was impacting the yacht, but fortunately, the quality of the yacht Li Weimin had brought was quite good and wasn’t overwhelmed by the frequent waves.
To prevent unexpected incidents, during subsequent training, Li Weimin only took them to train some ten to twenty meters offshore. Even if they encountered unmanageable waves over ten meters high, Li Weimin could quickly steer the boat back to the beach, preventing any catastrophic destruction of the boat and loss of life.
However, this didn’t sit well with Wang Ye, as he wasn’t afraid of gigantic waves.