wobrien

How far do you all tend to go before you take a break when riding? I typically don't take breaks and my longer rides tend to be in the 25 to 35 mile range. But, I recently started riding with my 13 year old daughter and she likes to take breaks, have some water and talk a little bit and back down the road she goes. Turns out that while I don't need the breaks physically I am enjoying them and the rides are much easier (partly because we are also riding slower than my typical pace). I am going to try adding them to my longer rides and hopefully those rides will be able to get even longer. So... I am interested in how you all take breaks while riding.

delbiker1 

Nothing set. I take a break when: I am hungry, I want to take a picture, want to look at something, I just feel like it.

indyfabz

+1. And pee, although that doesn't always work out well. The other day I stopped for a nature break while touring in Montana and got attacked by at least a dozen mosquitoes.

delbiker1 

I don't know how I could have left out the empty my bladder. It has become a huge deal for me, enlarged prostrate. It is a very short time after getting the feeling to urinate that it turns into "I have got to pee really bad!" I sometimes wind up right on the side of the road, something for cover or not, and relieve myself before I relieve myself all over myself. Having ones life controlled by the bladder is not fun.

indyfabz

When I am touring on lightly travelled roads I usually don't even look for cover. I will simply pull down the front of the bibs while straddling the bike and let it flow. When I got attacked by the mosquitoes the other day I just happened to be on a somewhat busy road.

DrIsotope

Whenever I feel like stopping. Sometimes I don't.

shelbyfv

Bummer! I don't know if stopping will help you ride longer distances, but it can't hurt if you enjoy it. In the summer I generally need one stop during a 60 mile ride to refill water bottles. In practice, there are often more frequent short stops to regroup. Those usually just involve putting a foot down rather than a total dismount.

shelbyfv

This may be the first time "breaks" has been used correctly on BF

hillyman

Quite often. My job is out on the road so all my bike rides are new places. Lakes, rivers, mountain views, interesting building or strange art displays must be investigated with phone camera in hand. Life is too important to fly by and I'm off the clock.

Phil_gretz

At 50 miles, maybe. If there's cappuccino...otherwise, why would one stop?

CliffordK

For your daughter, if water is an issue, perhaps help her learn to drink water out of a water bottle while riding.

Breaks vary. For a longer through-ride, I like to stop every 30 to 50 miles or so. So, fo a short ride of < 50 miles, there may not be a need to take a break. Or, I may stop at a restroom or water fountain to refill or purge.

But, I also do a lot of round trip utility cycling, so for my typical ride, I might ride 10 miles, then stop, then another 5 to 10 miles. With a few stops, hitting 30 to 50 miles total.

rosefarts

turp

livedarklions

This varies a lot. I frequently take rides of 100-150 miles. When it gets closer to the 150 mile end of things, I usually don't take anything but an urgent pee break for the first 75 miles, at which point I stop at a restaurant for lunch. I usually do a couple of stops on the return 75, about 30 miles apart. On a century, I usually take a couple stops, but there's often a couple hour break in the middle to visit with my adult sons.

I do whatever is necessary to keep it fun. Forced marches of those lengths would burn me out.

Witterings

Whilst we never used to we've recently started taking breaks to enjoy the scenery and make it more relaxing .... don't half struggle to get going again though sometimes and it can seem like much harder work than before you stopped.

canklecat

On solo 20-30 mile training rides, none. Those are for getting me ready to enjoy faster group rides. I do those once or twice a week. Either a 30 minute HIIT session indoors, or solo midday loops on a nearby 5 mile circuit to improve my heat tolerance for summer.

On other solo rides, I stop whenever I feel like it. Maybe to snap a photo, enjoy the view, rearrange the junk, talk to critters, stretch the achy stuff, hunt for road swag or magic mushrooms (sorry, never find any), etc.

On group rides I go with the flow. The faster group usually has a short break at the halfway mark on 26 mile rides, and one snack break just past the halfway mark of the weekend 50+ mile rides.

Both the casual and faster groups I ride with tend to stop and regroup at the tops of climbs. Usually at least a couple of minutes after the last person reaches the crest, so the fresher, stronger riders will loop around, or go back to the rear to encourage the stragglers. No pressure, just ride alongside and chatter, not badger them to ride faster. I appreciated that when I was the straggler and still do when I'm riding with a stronger group than I am. So I do the same thing now if I happen to be a little stronger and faster than other folks in the group. I get plenty of exercise on my solo training sessions, so I don't mind the relaxed attitudes of my favorite faster and casual groups.

Or if there's a mechanical. Or if someone lags behind we'll stop and check on them for medical stuff. Usually it's an asthma attack, borderline heat exhaustion, cramps, etc. Can happen to any of us so nobody complains. Or if they do they usually end up switching to a tougher group. Plenty of compatible groups for almost everyone out there.

257 roberts

If I had a 13 year old daughter that wanted to ride with me and talk to me I would be willing to stop/go slow as much as she wanted to,the time you spend bonding is more vaulable than gold...those are the rides you will remember when your old and gray

FlMTNdude

If I needed to pee or if something catches my interest and maybe want to snap a picture I will stop. Average summer rides are no more than 35-maybe 50 miles, more in the winter when I can stay dry. Generally it is whatever I feel like, I tend to ride alone.

subgrade

Up to 50 km I usually go without breaks; if the ride is planned to be longer, then about once every hour.

TimothyH

I rarely take "Breaks" per se, but 30 miles between store stops to refill bottles in the heat of summer seems about right.


-Tim-

sdmc530

when riding alone maybe once an hour? Depending how I feel that day I guess, sometimes not at all.

BUT my 8 year old riding with me, we stop when he wants a break. I want him to enjoy it and not feel pushed to do X amount of mikes or anything so its more about spending time together than how far we got. Our max is probably about 12 miles together, he is pretty much done after that. Some days he is done after 4 just how he is feeling too.

Wilfred Laurier

Depends. Generally I stop 'when I feel like a break', which might be after 20km, or it might be after 5 km. Sometimes I do 60km without a break.

The rides I remember most fondly are often where fun stuff happened during breaks.

jefnvk

Everytime I pass a brewery.

NoWhammies

I usually stop at the halfway point. Depending on the distance, the halfway point might include a coffee and our a sweet treat. Then it's back on the bike and the return journey.

I may stop for a photo too. I never used to do that, but since joining the forums I feel like I need to up my photo game.

WhyFi

I stop if/when I run out of water. I can usually get in a moderately-paced ~60 mile ride with a glass of water before leaving the house and two bottles on the bike. Anything longer than that and I'm likely to stop, refill and grab a snack somewhere around the 50-60 mile mark.

woodcraft

'bout 30" on the rode bike...