How long a break when cycling

[VictorL]

can you take to count it as a continuous ride.

On my last ride (62 miles) I stopped 3 times. The first time was for traffic lights (around a 3-4 minute wait), the second was to take a picture of me infront of a town sign and to give the missus a quick call (approx 3 mins) and the final one was to pop in to a shop to get some more water (approx 5-6 mins).

I presume that this 'counts' as a continuous ride - or does it? Is stopping for water okay, or should it be traffic lights only?

 

[Garz]

I would consider anything over a 5 minute stop a break, stopping at lights or taking photos to me are fine, my gps phone logs time not moving so I can deduct it after the ride.

 

[snorri]

I presume that this 'counts' as a continuous ride - or does it? Is stopping for water okay, or should it be traffic lights only?

Are there rules about this sort of thing?
I've never considered counting the number of times my foot touches the ground on a journey, maybe others do.

 

[VictorL]

Are there rules about this sort of thing?
I've never considered counting the number of times my foot touches the ground on a journey, maybe others do.

Don't know that's why I asked.....

 

[VictorL]

I would consider anything over a 5 minute stop a break, stopping at lights or taking photos to me are fine, my gps phone logs time not moving so I can deduct it after the ride.

What program are you using? I use Sportypal - and you can pause this (which I never have) - I believe that this then shows up a different colour on the map.

 

[Bigtwin]

If unclip at all, that's that - ride over. So you did 3 very short rides.

No good enough - go and do it again.

Or you could decide that you don't care....

 

[jimboalee]

Are there rules about this sort of thing?
I've never considered counting the number of times my foot touches the ground on a journey, maybe others do.

There are some unwritten rules about this kind of thing.

For example, if two cafes are 15 miles apart and you aim to spend 1 hour riding between them, a 'break' or a 'stop' at the second cafe should not be any longer than 15 minutes ( 25% of the ride time ).

If you need to stop after twenty minutes cycling along the route, a 5 minute stop will be considered a 'break'. After 10 minutes, 2.5 minutes, after 40 minutes, 10 minutes etc etc.

So if you know how long you have been riding, a stop of less than 25% of that time is NOT a 'Break', it is a MINOR interuption to your trip.

If you do stop for over 15 minutes at the second cafe after 1 hour continual riding, the next section of the outing should be considered a seperate ride and a period of 'warm up' should be done before getting back to hard cycling.

The other unwritten rule here is "The first ten miles are the worst", which means it takes ten miles to warm up. That, in my example is 40 minutes. A stop of 10 minutes before 40 minutes have been ridden means the warm-up process must be repeated. You've cooled down too much.

 

[ASC1951]

some unwritten rules

jimboalee, stop winding the lad up!

 

[Bigtwin]

jimboalee, stop winding the lad up!

No - it's priceless. I like the 10 mile warm-up. I've never ridden in the Alaskan winter...

 

[VictorL]

lol - thanks for a humorous start to a Monday morning.

 

[simon_brooke]

For heaven's sake! Any cycling I do between sleeping and sleeping counts as one ride, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Billloudon]

For heaven's sake! Any cycling I do between sleeping and sleeping counts as one ride, as far as I'm concerned.

You've got my vote. Onward and upward

 

[jimboalee]

For heaven's sake! Any cycling I do between sleeping and sleeping counts as one ride, as far as I'm concerned.

I cycled with Chiles and Shearer when they did the 500 km, two day ride for Comic relief.
They rode hard and fast with long stops.

Wrong. Slower with shorter stops would have been a better strategy.

We stopped for 45 minutes at Aylesbury after a hour and half hard ride from Banbury. 32 miles at 21 mph.

When the group departed Aylesbury to continue with the +20 mph pace, nearly everyone got viscous cramp.

We stopped again near Amersham where I explained about 'cooling down' too much and 'warming-up' needed to be repeated after every stop.

It was 200 km from West Brom to the BBC center and they ate about four times as much as I did, as it was noted how little I ate. I suggested they inflicted themselves with gastric overload in juice and gels for the energy requirements seeing they stopped for a piddle three times in 200 km.

Chiles said there wouldn't be a 'next time'.

 

[Hont]

Did they not have endurance sport experts with them? Or were you it, and they just ignored you? ;-)

 

[Hont]

And IMHO stopping for traffic lights, purchasing fuel/water, having a pee or looking at a map doesn't count as a rest stop. Unless you're stopping only at the top of steep hills it's harder to keep stopping anyway as you lose momentum.