Hiding Its Power

Cheaters want to win--and not get caught. So they find ways to conceal the ways in which they cut corners.

I don't cheat.  So how can I speak with such authority about cheaters and cheating?  Don't ask! 😉

Seriously, though:  How many ads have you seen for drugs that can't be detected or teas, potions or other things that will make whatever you drank, ingested or smoked the night before "undetectable?" 

Although Jacques Anquetil supposedly said that no one wins the Tour de France on salad and mineral water and the only rider to have won the Tour more often than the "gentle giant" had all of his victories voided because he aimed for "better living through chemistry," taking banned or simply risky or questionable substances is not the only way racers and other athletes have tried to gain unfair advantages.

Over the past few years, riders have been caught with "boosters" concealed in various parts of their bikes.  I am not naive enough to think that all of the riders hiding mechanical and electronic "aids" in whichever parts of their bikes--or clothes or bodies--have been detected.  And, given a development I've just become aware of, I wouldn't be surprised that more will choose not to play by the rules.

Quella, a British company known for urban single-speed bikes (what some call "cafe racers) has developed a line of such machines that aren't what they seem, at least to the uninitated.  At first glance, it might seem like another bike from its flagship Varsity line. (Interesting, isn't it, that it shares a model name with one of the most-maligned and best-selling bikes of all time?)  Actually, it is--except for the rear hub, which is larger in diameter than what one normally finds on such a bike.  Inside that hub are a battery, torque sensor, GPS, Bluetooth and motor.

Yes, you read that right.  That bike has an electric assist, but tries to hide it. Now, of course, I don't think it would get by a race registrar or commissaire but, if someone could figure out a way to fit everything I mentioned into a hub, I am sure that, in time, someone will figure out a way to make such a hub look like the more slender ones we are accustomed to seeing on such bikes.  After all, your Android or iPhone has more capacity than the computers that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon and back.

Also, I imagine that the sensors and motor can be made more powerful, and able to go for longer distances and periods of time on a single charge.  The current system will only push a rider up to 15 MPH with 40Nm of torque--and has a maximum range of about 40 miles on a single charge.  So, this system will only help riders on short rides over flat terrain--which is how such bikes are usually ridden anyway.  

But if (or perhaps I should say when) the engineers figure out how to make the assist go faster and further on a single charge, this system could be a temptation or a boon (depending on your point of view) for some racer who needs a little edge and believes he or she won't get caught--or that the rules or their enforcement will change.