As a rule of thumb, I do not stop on any ride that is less than 60 km. From 60 km and up (usually I either do 50-60 or 70-80 as regular rides) I sometimes plan a stop.

mostly that is because the rides that are <60 km are in the morning before, or in the evening after work. Or when I do a ride but do have to be home soon. So there is a time contraint there. The rides that are longer are usually in weekends and when I am free. On those rides, there is not sense of urgency and if I know a nice spot on the route, I stop there to relax. Those rides, to me, are not just training but also just for fun, so I would take a break even if I dont need it. Of course on the bike, I do have my usual pace.

Go on the group ride as suggested. Make sure you are comfortable with drinking while riding.

Most of my club rides have one rest stop, approx halfway through. I think that is typical for club rides. Beginner level club rides might have brief (1-2 minute) regroup stops more often.

If I am riding solo, I generally have no rest stops if 60 miles or less. Longer requires a rest stop, as short as possible, to refill bottles.

Our 'A' rides stop for a quick pee break on longer rides, and to wait if someone got gapped on a hill. Other than that, no stopping

Zero, except for calls of nature or a social coffee shop ride.

I prefer not to stop on rides under 60 miles, but most of the groups I ride with like to stop at the halfway point for 10 or 15 minutes. The B and C groups make multiple stops, maybe every 15 miles or so.

Stopping doesn't seem to affect me at all when the weather's nice and warm, but I hate cooling down when it's colder outside - it just feels chilly when you start riding again.

On my sunday group rides of about 70 miles or so ... we don't even stop to pee.
If ya gotta pee ... you do a little time trialing in front at 26+mph for a few minutes and then you quickly stop and pee while the group passes you ... then after that you catch up again by doing some more TT'ing alone (or with two if it happens).
A fun way to do intermediate max effort intervals :D

You really shouldn't need a backpack or Camelback for a 50-mile ride, especially if you are finishing it in three hours. Two bottles on the bike and one in a jersey pocket should be enough. Put your CO2 and spare tube in a small saddle bag.

And, if you do need water, just find a place to stop and fill up. I will hit convenience stores to buy more fluids or stop by a fire station or church that has a hose to get water. But that only occurs on 60+ rides. There really is no need to stop for anything other than a pee break on a 50-mile ride.

Oh, and stop checking email when out for a ride.

I wouldn't ride with you. :)

Ok so I'm stopping way too much apparently. I do about 250 miles per week and its always always solo. I guess that leads to bad habits. Going out today for a 50 mile ride, gonna try just stopping once when I reach new haven (20 miles out) and see how I feel. I might need to start saddle shopping for something a bit more comfortable. When I bought my bike it came with a fizik pave and I just went with it. I've never been too comfortable with it but its my first road bike so I had nothing to compare it too. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say almost any saddle will be comfortable if you stop every ten miles. 30 consecutive miles will really give me a good idea on if the fizik fits my body or if I need to start doing the saddle search.

Comfort is another reason I find myself needing to take multiple rests i think so I need to get that figured out. I'm using pearl Izuma quests that I actually picked up at dicks for cheap, maybe an upgrade is needed here too

Never stop other than lights & stop signs and those are only in the first/last 3km.

^ this. Stops should be based on time in the saddle, but miles. If I am doing group rides, I stop for shorter time, but we have a few regroup (waiting for slower riders to catch up) points (typically low traffic road side or Stop signs).

When you guys were new did you find yourselves stopping more?

I think so, but mostly to get use to saddle time. The more you ride, the longer you will be able to ride.

Only due to a sore butt.

Yes, but the goal is definitely to stop as little as possible on true training rides.

If you're riding for leisure or not to necessarily get faster, stop as many times as you'd like - a few of the recreational bike groups around here (that still put up serious miles at times) normally spend a whole hour lunch break in the middle of a 50 mile ride.

I can't even imagine carrying a backpack full of water bottles on a 100 mile ride. You really need to get that figured out, that's ridiculous. Get at least one more cage, bigger bottles, drink less, something.

This.

Ride longer. Learn to drink from bottle WHILE riding. Bring extra bottles. Turn off the phone. Ride!

3-4 bottles in a pack ain't that bad. Of course I've done 100 mile rides with 30 lbs of clothes, tools, food, etc. in my backpack, so maybe it just doesn't seem that bad to me.

I don't get people who say they ride 50miles and average 20mph but they stop 5 times on the ride.

sorry, but your average is no where near 20mph if you are sitting still on the side of the road for 10mins. When you do a chip-timed race you'll know your real average for the time you spend covering the distance.

That being said, on my rides of 50miles or less we don't stop at all unless it is for mechanical. I don't do many rides over 100km so I can't speak to that....I would think as soon as you're 3hrs + in the saddle you might want to take some nature breaks (if you know what I mean)

+1. I find there are "natural" or "de facto" stop or slow down areas as it is, such as a potential flat, traffic lights, top of a climb, etc. that I don't have a preplanned schedule to stop until I get to the destination. A few times I've had to stop for trains that took 10+ minutes to cross.

Was there a shortage on panniers that year or something? Sounds like doing it the hard way to me...

The group ride I go on is 65 miles and stops at a gas station around mile 45 so eveyone can pee, refill their water bottles, and buy moon pies.

My rides usually average 40-60 miles, i usually stop once. First stop is a quick lower back stretch. Lately i've been doing two stops due to the insane heat we've been having. It's nice to stop in some shade and cool down a bit. When i did a century i made three stops, each in 25 mile increments.

I often stop pedalling when going downhills. Thats resting.
Otherwise stops are generally just for doing stuff I can't do on the bike.