Every week since fourth grade, otaku Sakamichi Onoda has cycled 45 kilometers to and from his home in Akihabara on an old, rickety utility bike—his only form of transportation. As he begins high school, Onoda hopes to make new otaku friends—something that has been missing from his school life thus far—so he can finally have someone to talk to about his hobbies. However, much to his dismay, the anime club has been disbanded.

It is then that Onoda meets fellow first-year Shunsuke Imaizumi by chance. Tall, athletic, and a cycling prodigy, Imaizumi could not be any more different from Onoda; however, after seeing Onoda's cycling on the school's infamous rear slope, Imaizumi becomes interested in his unique climbing style and sets out to challenge him to a race. This unusual encounter marks Onoda's first steps onto the road of competitive cycling.