Taking breaks when cycling?
 

When people smash 100+ mi, do they take any breaks at all? I am confused. Shouldn't you NOT take breaks so you can set PR's without resting as I think resting would count in your time to finish your desired miles

It's very common in amateur events, such as gran fondos, for only a portion of the course to actually be timed, such as the climbs. Aside from the climbs, as long as you finish before the course cut-off time, you're good. Bona fide amateur racers don't take breaks, but those races aren't 100+ miles, but rather either laps around an urban course or something similar.

The only time amateurs regularly do 100 plus miles is when they're taking part in a century and those are generally not timed. People sometimes keep track of both their actual elapsed finishing time and their moving time, which only takes into account the time they were pedaling the 100 miles. But for the most part, there are no prizes or anything like that associated with centuries, just the pride of finishing. People generally set individual goals and what works for one may be different from another.

Centuries come in many flavors. You can do one solo. You can do one as part of a group ride. You can do one that's put on by a club to raise money. You can do one that's put on by a charity for which you have to raise money. If one is trying to set a personal best, elapsed time is what counts, so one tries to only pee once and hopefully have support to hand over water and food. But that's a stunt, seldom done. Most folks take from 1-4 breaks, of up to 1/2 hour each. IME a group ride will stop two or three times, one a sitdown for food and coffee and the others pee stops. A club or charity ride will have rest stops every 20-25 miles with free food and water.

Yeah, what he said! I think club rides are the best - you get to meet people, both while riding and at stops, and four 25-mile rides is easier to deal with. But each rider has his/her own goals and motivations. If your century goal is to achieve the shortest time (mine is a satisfying average speed), then yes, you should not stop unless absolutely required (lots of pros don't stop to pee).

Hey, do whatever you thing you'll enjoy the most, taking breaks, not counting it toward the total time, counting toward the total time, whatever. Personally, I only stop to pee, fill water bottles and stock up on eats. I try to keep stops as short as possible, certainly under 10 minutes, but lines at the porta-potties and bottle filling stations can slow things down.

I once stopped for a whole pizza and 1/4l of red wine. Following miles were pretty casual.

I have a theory that breaks of up to 3-5 min. every hour have minimal effect on overall time, because you compensate by being able to go a bit faster after each break.

If it's timed (like these: http://planetultra.com/portfolio/king-of-the-mountains/) I make minimal stops. Just enough to get water (handups are not allowed) and check in at the checkpoints.

If it's not timed and I am keeping track of time, I may just track riding time and stop at some of the rest stops for food and water.

If it's not timed and I'm not tracking time, I'm probably riding with other people so what I do is partly driven by what they're doing. It might be a social century or a hammerfest or some of each in the same ride.

Races are a different thing entirely. Unless they're really long (like 6 hours+) there's no stopping.

Has anyone on here ever completed a century without stopping? That would be pretty tough in the summer.

Almost, once. On a ride from the U of Az. to ASU (115 miles), a friend and I rode my tandem and we had one guy on a single bike following us. The event organizers had assured us that the rest stops would all be open even if we left as soon as registration opened, but they were wrong and we never saw anyone at them. Our only stop was when the guy on the single broke a spoke and we stopped for a couple minutes to true his wheel enough to keep it from rubbing the brake - and there were also a few traffic light stops when we got into Tempe. Incl. those stops it took us a few minutes over 5 hours.

But usually on century rides I enjoy stopping to eat, chat with other riders, look at the scenery, etc.

Doubt it. If you're riding 100 miles, you are going to be riding at your sustainable endurance pace anyway. A speed gain of 10% (which is what you would need to compensate for 5 minutes out of every hour) would require an increase in power of much more than 10% because power varies with the cube of the speed. So basically you'd need to turn the 100 miles at endurance pace into five successive hour-long tempo rides, which is much, much harder.

Edit: Just did the calculation. If your pace when going non-stop is a modest 15mph, that's a 6'40" century. Take out six 5' stops and you reduce your riding time to 6'10", meaning that to finish in the same time you need a moving average of 16.2mph. That requires a rather sobering 26% increase in power. If you're fast, you make fewer stops, but upping your moving average for a five-hour century from 20mph to the required 21.4 still needs 22% more power.

I've never ridden a century non-stop because I've never carried enough water to do so. But keeping going is faster. And long stops allow lactate products to accumulate in the legs, so I feel slow immediately afterwards and it takes me a while to get back into the rhythm. So my usual strategy on long rides (not that I do many centuries these days) is to stop only as often, and for as long, as it takes to fill water bottles (and pee, if necessary).

As it is said, "There is no speed slower than stopped." I used to have to take 1 minute breaks once an hour on multi-hour climbs, just because of the leg pain. I think that was almost a wash as I would catch folks who had passed me while stopped. But that's an unusual circumstance and a very short break. Looking at elapsed time, it's almost always better to stay on the bike.

I can carry the nutrition I need and with frame and seat water bottles and a camelback someone could carry enough water and the needed electrolytes, sodium and potassium salts drink to do 100m or 200k without stopping to go for a PR….longer with being in great physical/mental condition and if needed a support team. That’s not my kind of ride though. Depending on heat/hills especially, I like a quick stop a few times at rest stops or having to at controls to stretch, self-massage and since I don’t carry enough water to refill my bottles and maybe grab a banana etc., take care of any physical irritations early before a problem occurs or a quick bathroom break. I’m mostly only a PR type with running and in my bicycling training.

I get a 22% required increase in both cases.

Yes, if you're working primarily against air resistance, asymptotically you need to increase your moving power by 3% to increase your moving speed by 1%. So, in flat rides, the math does not work out.

On the other hand, in hilly rides, you only need to increase your power by 1% to increase your speed by 1%. There is some lactate buildup in the bloodstream while riding, and a brief stop will let you clear it (which is why your HR and respiration don't fall straight down to resting levels as soon as you unclip). Don't know about 5 min breaks, but 1-2 min breaks may be mostly compensated.

Yes, most people take breaks when they ride 100+ miles.
Yes, time off the bicycle does count in your total time.
And not everyone wants to set a PR every time they get on a bicycle.

I've done 100 mile training rides w/o stopping (solo),,, stopping at rest stops, chatting with folks at organized centuries is 1/2 the fun - only worry about time when their are hard cut offs for a ride - seam always to be on hilly rides

I once stopped for tequila, beer & chili. Never again ...

Ask a 70 year old rider and you most likely get a different answer than from a 35 year old rider. I mean a 70 year old rider who used to race in the younger years.

I hear ya. That chili stuff will kill you. substitute that with a Carne Asada burro and you would have been good to go

I try to minimize stops when riding a century but do not eliminate them. As a below average rider I know my limits. Watching the Pros on Sunday here in San Diego slay a hundred plus mile route with 11k of climbing in 4.5 hours puts it in perspective for me. I don't worry about how fast I go. If I need to stop I stop. If I can keep going I do. I listen to my body and act accordingly.