The gravel crunches beneath the freshly inflated Goodyear tyres as I roll up the driveway of my Airbnb towards the tarmac country road. ‘For an aero road bike, this little gravel section is surprisingly easy to handle,’ I think to myself, and push down harder on the pedals. As I change gears, I hear the now-familiar whirring of the Sram Force AXS, which guides me to Start of this endurance test ...so fascinating, yet now only barely noticed. You just get used to everything. Unfortunately, that includes the beautiful things too...
Holiday trips in the Factor Monza
Although I’ve only been testing the Factor Monza since June, I’ve already managed to get quite a bit of riding in. As well as the area around Cologne, this aerodynamic beast carried me up the 21 infamous hairpin bends to Alpe d’Huez and even made it back onto the bike rack for my holiday in Brittany. Although the Monza is primarily designed for training rides and races, that doesn’t mean relaxed rides and coffee runs are off the cards...
I’d never been to Brittany before and had no idea what conditions lay in store for me and my current test bike. But as soon as I arrived, I was absolutely thrilled. Well-surfaced roads wind their way through a sea of meadows, fields and woods, linking sleepy villages together. Car traffic? None whatsoever. A true road cycling paradise, although even road cyclists were a rare sight. Everything seemed deserted.
I set off on my first ride in north-western France feeling all the more relaxed, but unfortunately realised after 15 kilometres that I’d forgotten to charge the electric gear system. Luckily, it was only a few kilometres to the Airbnb, the Breton terrain is more undulating than mountainous, and I’d settled into a moderate gear. Nevertheless, the ride came to an unexpectedly early end. This did little to change my first impression: Brittany is ideal for road cycling.
Coffee break in Redon
I set out on the next ride better prepared and enjoyed the gentle climbs and fast descents. The aero road bike was, of course, particularly fun on the kilometre-long straight stretches without any inclines, where you could simply switch off and put your foot down. As I’ve already mentioned, however, I didn’t take the Factor out for tough training sessions, but rather for more relaxed rides, including coffee stops. This proved to be something of a problem, as in these sleepy little villages, cafés aren’t competing with one another; rather, they’re rather sparsely scattered about. And the opening hours also presented me with the odd challenge.
I eventually found my coffee bliss in the little town of Redon, although here too the opening hours of some cafés initially threw a spanner in the works. The double espresso I finally ordered at the Ciné Café tasted all the better for it, and also fitted perfectly into my route planning. Refreshed by the coffee and a bag of gummy bears that I’d bought at the nearby supermarket, I set off on the second half of the tour. Once again, I cycled past meadows, fields and woods, and once again without much traffic.
Flat tyre on gravel
Contrary to what I’d initially thought, my holiday rides didn’t take me solely along tarmac. Here and there, between the newer roads, there were sections of gravel – for which the Monza really isn’t designed. My front tyre confirmed this on the final unpaved metres of my last ride, when, after a lost battle with a large stone, it split open and the air escaped. I was annoyed – it was less than ten kilometres to my accommodation – but there was nothing for it. Tyre off, inner tube replaced, tyre back on. ‘At least I can now confirm that aero road bikes really aren’t made for gravel,’ I thought to myself, only half-seriously, and rolled the last few kilometres through Brittany.
Lukas Niebuhr
Editor
