How many rest stops do you take?
 

My usual day off ride is about 50 miles round trip and I usually take a rest stop every 15 miles or so. Usually it's just to drink some water or text a friend, check work emails. I was wondering how often you guys stop during a ride if at all? The reason I ask is because I want to start doing some group rides but I'm not sure how long of a ride to sign up for.

I've done 100 miles in a day but that was with 5-8 5 min stops. Do group rides stop nearly that often? I carry a back pack with me on longer rides to fit 3 or 4 water bottles especially in the heat. My bike only has 1 holder so it just doesn't cut it on long rides.

Should I just sign up for a short ride first and see how it goes? I'm averaging about 17.5 mph stops included and group rides are intimidating me at the moment.

I just did my first 55+ mile ride this past weekend with one stop at the 31 mile mark for 10 minutes tops to get a picture at my turn around point and fill up my 2 smaller bottles and then again at the 43 mile mark to get some GU, probably would not have stopped if I had some sort of fuel on me to start. I found that when I stopped I tightened up considerably and had to spend the first few miles after the stop at a high cadence to flush the lactic acid that settled in. I've really only been riding for about 3 months so I'm also curious as to what more experienced riders have to say...

You'll be fine - 17.5mph for avg for long rides is great. You'll have no problems keeping up with a noncompetitive roadie ride. The competitive roadies are a faster bunch, but you'll still be able to hang with most "B" rides. (A rides vary, but can get extremely tough if elite/pros show up, who will drop even super strong amateurs.)

I try to "stop" as little as possible. I drink and eat while I ride. Every so often we have to regroup at the top or bottom and that is enough break for me.

There's a fastish 50mile group ride I do round here that stops once or twice. My thoughts on your post though are:

You should be comfortable drinking from a bottle and replacing it in the cage while riding with the group; if not, then you might want to get some more comfort with that first.

This can wait.

Fifty miles or less...I don't stop. I'll drink at red lights or take a sip as needed when pedaling. For a metric century, I'll take one break to eat something and re-fill my water bottles. An imperial century usually requires about three stops, one at every 25-mile marker, again to eat something. If I'm riding in the mountains, I'll usually take a short pause at a summit and take a good swig of water before heading down the other side. I don't ride as fast as you do and usually shoot for a 15 mph average over a course.

For me a 50 mile day could involve zero to a dozen stops.

If I'm trying to make it a "training" type of ride I'll try to keep it down to two or so.

Sounds like you're asking about group ride policies. Some no-drop rides stop quite frequently unless you're the one they're waiting on ;) , then you'll probably only stop once while the fast guys will stop at significant turns, etc to wait.

On longer weekend rides (200k), there's usually around 30 miles between stops. On weekday club rides, the whole ride is 30-40 miles, and there may or may not be a stop at the midpoint.

Get a camelbak so you can drink without needing to stop and swap out bottles.

my long loop i 46 miles, I usually dont stop and if I do it just to take a leak.

Yep, that's about right. Too many stops and I get stiff and lose "fitness."

it varies. Depends on what you're trying to accomplish. One local ride does 80 miles with one 2 minute break.

Others do 35 miles with 4 breaks.

If you stop in training, you are training to stop.

oooooh I like that!!!! lol Good advice for sure

I've been doing group rides with the same club for 23 years. The longer rides (70-100 miles) usually stop around 25 or 30 miles. Depending on who is there it may be a quick or long stop.
I think long stops are fine, starting up again is no big deal and I like to eat.

If you want to try a group ride, just show up and tell them you are a newbie and they will advise you. With us if you get dropped you may have to find your own way back. It's also not a big deal.
You will eventually make friends and find out who you like riding with.

I Definately notice my muscles get tight even after a short stop so that's one reason to stop less. Camel pak is a good suggestion, lighter and smaller than my back pack. Temps are dropping here so I won't even need that much water but I still drink more than the average person. I've seen some good camel packs with pockets for my c02, phone, tube ect.

I used to stop every 10 miles no matter if I needed a rest or not so I'm getting better atleast. I just feel like I'm cheating when I take rest stops, not that it's a contest but still I'm cheating myself. I just wanted to get a feel for the average roadies style if you will. My boss always asks how many miles i did and when I tell him 50 he says "wow you'll have no problem doing our 35 miles group ride". 50 miles with 3 stops is a lot different than 30ish straight through. I think my legs and butt would be screaming.

Gonna start tapering down my rest stops and drinking/eating on the fly. It would be nice to be able to ride a decent ride without being gone all day. Rest stops really add up and it's kinda wasted time, plus I look awfully lazy to those passing by.

I usually plan my ride times and/or distances, so I just stop for 5 mins at the half way point, then hop back on and make my way back home.

The couple of group rides I went on a while back were too fast for me and never stopped. Was too afraid of getting dropped by grabbing my water bottle!

2 hour rides = none

4 hour rides = 1

I don't stop unless I have a mechanical. The team car usually gets me back up and running in under a minute.

I stopped only a few times in this year's TdF.

i generally stop every 2 hours to top off my bottles, but on one of my regular 3-4 hour loops, i fill up my bottles at the 1.5 hour mark because their isnt an easily accessible water stop till the 3 hour mark.

sounds about right for me as well. im not lazing around for my 1 stop too. usually its a pretty short deal, 10 minutes or so. pee. eat a snack, check out the river, hydrate, get going....

I do not like stopping. If I'm tired, I'd rather ride slow than stop and rest.

People always say they can't stop for more than 10 minutes because their muscles will tighten up, I have never had this problem. What am I doing right or wrong, I can stop for 30 minutes on a century and not get any ill effects.

65mile typical ride, and a stop at about 40miles for about 15minutes to regroup. I eat my Cliff bar on the bike, most of the time.

In my 50 mile weekend training/exercising rides, I stop once for about 5 min at the 35 mile mark to fill up my drink bottles. I do not sit down and walk around and stretch my legs. My average speed is usually 19 mph, depending on the wind.

On my last 65 mile backcountry ride, I could only average 17 mph because of the traffic. The weather was especially hot starting at 80 F at 7 am and getting to 90 F at 930 am and peaking at 95 F at 11 am. I drank 3.7 L of a 50:50 mix of Nuun+water and Gatorade. There were two five minute sprints at almost 30 mph on flat ground to escape some chasing dogs! I stopped for about 15 min at the 40 mile mark to sit down and eat my honey stinger wafer and some dried figs and dates and to take some pictures. Getting re-started was much harder because of the lactic acid build up. I had to stop at the 55 mile mark for about 5 min to fill up my bottles with my drink mix. The lesson to myself is to not stop for more than 10 min and never sit down.

I am also wondering what other more experienced and stronger riders do while they were building up their base miles.

My goal for this year is 30 miles at 20 mph average, 50 miles at 19 mph average without stopping, 65 miles at 18 mph average with two 5 min stops, and 100 miles at 17 mph average with three to four 5 min stops. I am also getting a Quarg power meter so I do not have to rely solely on average speed to guage my development and to better pace myself.

Mark

Zero stops for me on 50-70 mile rides.

The Garmin records 'moving time' even if you do stop, but for all those folks that think they're as good as their moving time with all stops removed including that 5 minute water stop - you're fooling yourself. That rest stop is a big bonus and artificially inflates your moving time. Take 2 of them, even on a 4 hour ride, and your moving speed is a good 1.5mph faster than normal, if going hard which is a big deal.

For 70+mile rides, I do stop for nature/water break, but it's usually one stop.