The story so far. Cycling historian Claude B Dawes has been summoned by the mysterious Dr. Rudolph Moeller of the M7 Human and Alternative Powered Vehicle Company after a very important (and dangerous) bike part goes missing. Dawes and M7’s top bike designer, Lucyna Langlijne head for CycleQuest The World’s Largest Bike Fair where the component is believed to be hidden. ‘The Brotherhood’ is the secretive organisation behind further unlikely events in their relentless drive to promote their warped vision of cycling. For anyone that’s new to the story then a quick look through the previous online chapters may help. Then again it may not.

For Dawes the experience of cycling the fixed wheeel Brompton in the dark whilst watching the bike computer pushed him to the limits of his ability. He was starting to have flash backs about the Dun Run - a famous all night ride that took place from London. He recalled his dream about climbing Mont Ventoux. That wasn’t on a Brompton though. What bike was it then... Pinarelli, Bianchi, De Rossa,Tagliatelli? That was it! He hadn’t eaten for hours. No wonder he was struggling.

<< travel exactly 1.65km onto the Zandvoort track and then stop. Do not use lights.>>

That was what the note had instructed him to do. The bike computer did have a built in light though - a good feature that ordinarily would have made his day. However the stress of watching this and going onto the Zandvoort track in the pitch black took all the joy out of his discovery.

1.61... 1.62... 1.63... 1.64... he started to pedal very slowly easing the brakeless Brompton to a halt on the pedals. 1.65km exactly. For a second there was silence. Unknown to Dawes though he was being followed by Moeller and Lucyna in the M7 Ultratandem Velomobile. Thanks to new chain technology and an unusually silent Rohloff hub their sleek black vehicle had managed to slip onto the track discreetly. This was ‘stealth’ technology at its utmost.