What is cycling anyway?

Since motorizing an old Gary Fisher mountain bicycle with a GEBE kit I have come to some conclusions over 1600 plus miles of commuting on this "bicycle".
Number one on the list is the fact that in the beginning of this project I looked at a motor on a bike as a joke as far as training goes. In fact that is so very far from the truth its to be incomprehensible!
Is this cycling? Yes and in a big time way. Can one obtain a workout on a bike with a motor on it? I can say yes if one wants to power assist the motor as much as possible to get the best possible fuel economy!
This kit is a matter of man mixed with machine to pedal a bicycle. Its that simple. Its a great way to get around and its cheap to.
I went out riding with some of my cycling buddies on my Orbea high end road bike with no miles in on an actual pedal bicycle only motored bicycle miles and to my amazement I was incredibly fit after 5 weeks of motored biking and zero "real" pedaling miles!
I mean on the climbs where fitness matters I was killing my pals and dropping them! This is a huge deal as far as I am concerned. Its changed all of my training plans for ultra cycling for 2011!
Motored cycling is going to be in the mix for my training for my upcoming ultra events for 2011!
Many in the small cloistered ultra cycling community view mileage to be the holy grail. I view things differently! Fitness for cycling is the holy grail and how one comes to this is open to debate.
I personally believe that commuting with a power assist bicycle is a great asset in saving money and getting to work cheap along with getting some training value for any type of competitive cycling endeavors.
In the news about the professional cycling world there have been a number of athletes and teams that have been proven to have used performance enhancing drugs to get there victories in this difficult sport.
If you have never participated in any competitive cycling event you just do not understand just how hard this sport is at the tip of the spear and the fact that athletes will look to anything to gain just a slight advantage over there competitors and the willingness to risk all to win. This is the bottom line in all professional sports.
I am not making any judgement here on professional athletes just stating what I think are obvious facts of life in pro sports. And to my motorized biking activities and any ultra racing that I might do is that cheating to train on a power assisted bicycle? My ultra cycling pals would most assuredly say that this is a questionable activity at best and at worst cheating. You start the GEBE motor and you just motor down the road and if you pedal you get a workout if you don't you just go down the road without a sweat. It really is that simple as far as I am concerned.
I look at motored biking now as a legitimate workout regimen for an ultra cyclist.
This is all just personal observation and personal opinion about what sport is and what ultra cycling is as a sport and who decides what is training and what is not training. In my mind its what one does on race day that proves the efficacy of ones training regimen.

Kevin