Undetectable e-bikes

I recently came across an ad for a Story Bicycle road bike that is almost indistinguishable from a regular road bike. Replace the handlebars with drops and you would be hard-pressed to know this isn't a regular road bike. It has pedal assist, so you won't see a throttle grip and the battery is concealed in the frame.

Story Electric Road Bike

It comes with a 36V, 7Ah battery in the down tube and a motor in the rear hub capable of generating up to 350W of power. The battery weighs about 2kg and the motor and crank sensors probably weigh another 3kg. So how much help would this be on a 200k brevet? Does the extra weight offset the power assistance?

Let's do the math using data from http://www.ftexploring.com/energy.

Thirty-six volts times 7 amp-hours = 252 Wh = 907,200 Joules of energy in the battery (252 x 3600). It takes 10 Joules to raise 1kg by 1 meter so this battery can raise 1kg by 90,720 meters or it can raise the extra 5kg of the battery, motor, etc by 18,144 meters or nearly 60,000 feet. That's far more climbing than most brevets have so a significant portion of the battery's charge is available to propel the rider forward.

So on a ride with 15,000' of climbing, 25% of the battery is used to raise the battery, etc over the climbs, and 75% of the battery would be available to aid the rider.

So I've established that the energy in an e-bike like this far exceeds the cost of the extra weight. While they may be fun to ride, they're banned from all randonneuring events due to article 2 of the rules below (my emphasis).

Article 2

These brevets are open to any amateur cyclist regardless of his or her cycling affiliations. Any rider under the age of 18 must have consent of his or her parent or legal guardian. Any form of human-powered vehicle is acceptable. The only stipulation is that the vehicle must be powered solely by the rider.

As event organizers, how do we spot riders trying to cheat with bikes like this? The one thing all e-bikes have in common today is the over-sized front or rear hubs. Even though the manufacturers can hide the battery, they still cannot hide the motor in the hubs.

Five Rivers Route Conditions

I've had eyeballs on the Five Rivers 300k route since the series of storms that came through SoCal last month. There isn't any damage to the bike trails or roads on this route.

At this time (Sunday Feb 24th) there is some sand and dry mud on the trail in some underpasses and on the north end of the Rio Hondo trail (see video). These hazards can be ridden with 28mm tires by a rider with average bike handling skills (me). Parks and Recreation has done a good job of cleaning up the mud and debris from the storms.

The only hazard I need to bring your attention is an unavoidable hole next to a telephone pole on the dirt section as we approach the Rio Hondo trail head at about mile 97. Please take extra care on this dirt stretch.

Last week there were several inconveniently closed gates across the San Diego creek trail, but they were not difficult to circumvent and I don't expect them to be closed on the 2nd.

Long time no Ride

A series of storms have been lining up to hit Southern California ever since the middle of January, making even leaving my driveway a challenge. Fortunately an hour of snow shoveling followed by a two hour stationary workout has helped keep my fitness level up.

We had a slight break last Saturday so Amber and I rode the last 100k of the Five Rivers 300k. Stacy, Greg, and Martins rode my Four Rivers permanent which covers the first 200k of the Five Rivers. Between us we managed to put eyeballs on almost all the bike paths used by the Five Rivers.

At this time, two weeks before the event date, there are quite a lot of problems to deal with.

1. SART is flooded as it passes under Orangewood but it's easy to cross over the street.

SART under Orangewood

2. The top of the San Gabriel bike trail has flooding over a spillway.

Top of the SGRT

3. The Rio Hondo is gated and closed, the reason is unknown. I will need to investigate further.

Rio Hondo

4. There is some residual mud in underpasses on the San Diego Creek bike path and there are some unnecessarily closed gates. The mud is rideable with 28mm tires and the gates can be easily circumvented.

The long term weather forecast shows about nine days of clear weather before the Five Rivers 300k which means all these issues will be resolved and I fully expect the entire route to be open. I was most concerned about long-term damage to the trails, but this doesn't seem to have happened.

For the Five Rivers 300k, we're currently expecting normal temps and wind with the chance of rain later in the day.