How long a ride deserves a cafe stop?

[mjr]

Context is everything though. Or have they introduced cafe stops during stage races now?

Reintroduced, you mean: "race regulations required that riders fend entirely for themselves, forcing them to scavenge for meals along the way. If the lights were on at a roadside tavern and they were serving rabbit, rabbit is what you ate. Guzzling alarming amounts of alcohol was the norm." https://www.outsideonline.com/2099916/how-tour-de-france-diet-has-changed-over-decades

 

[Gravity Aided]

Shortest ride of the year is always our club ride on New Years, as it's so cold in the States then. Shortest ride was from meeting point to nearby hotel, about 2 city blocks, then sat around having coffee and biscotti.

 

[rivers]

It depends. Anything over 40-50 ish, a cafe stop will be included. Anything over 60, a lunch stop. Sometimes less will have a cafe stop because why the hell not. Shorter rides tend to have a cafe stop at the end as opposed to mid-ride. Evening rides have a pub stop built in.

 

[Fonze]

I stop around the halfway mark and treat myself to a double espresso and a lemon muffin the cafe owner makes.
I also like a little harvest bar nuts oats and the like.
If I ate a full English I'd want a snooze rather than ride home

 

[jefmcg]

, it's just not part of a serious training regime is all

Depends what you are training for. I might have completed LEL if I'd practiced more eating meals during rides, as well as drinking water and sleeping. 4 days of half eaten meals, not enough fluids and patchy sleep did more damage than 1200km.

But if you are only training for pissy little 100 miles, then you don't need meal breaks.

 

[Mugshot]

Does a cafe stop have to be at a cafe?
View attachment 380178

I'd just like to say that that pie looks delicious!!!!

 

[Banjo]

Sorry but that's rubbish, theirs no recovery value in eating that and getting back on a bike

Unless they have invented calorie free full english breakfast then you are talking nonsense.

Any food will fuel your ride.Someone on a holiday tour will have different needs to someone riding THE tour but the principle is the same.So long as calories consumed matches or exceeds calories burned your ok.

 

[Mugshot]

Or have they introduced cafe stops during stage races now?

They should bring them back;

Robert Jacquinot taking a break to eat at a cafe in Hostens during stage 5, Les Sables d’Olonne – Bayonne, 3 July 1922

Over the years bicycle racing has become a more focused and professional sport with big investments by sponsors and painstaking organization by times. The major races are taken very seriously indeed so it is disarming to see photos of riders who took a moment to raid cafes or fruit stands during major races. This was apparently a tradition of sorts and the Tour and Giro organizers supposedly reimbursed the merchants.

 

[Mr_Grieve]

To quote Geraint Thomas, 'A long ride without a cafe stop is like a bike without wheels' and you can't say he doesn't train seriously. So if it's good enough for him then it's good enough for me - although he doesn't define how far a long ride is and I suspect his idea of a long ride is might be a wee bit further than mine,

 

[crazyjoe101]

Assuming the point of the ride is not to go to a cafe in the first place then for me it's anywhere between 15~60 miles before stop number one.

 

[nickyboy]

As others have said, it's time, not miles for me. If I'm riding hard, I need to eat something reasonable after about three hours. So that can be 35 miles or it can be 55 miles depending on how hilly it is

I wouldn't stop if I had less than about 10 miles to go to home...so I guess it's 45 hilly miles or 65 flat miles, give or take

 

[hoppym27]

theres a lovely little canalside pub 3 miles from home and sometimes I stop for a pint before the last 3 miles.....probably contraversial but they do a lovely pint of Doombar!

 

[reacher]

Unless they have invented calorie free full english breakfast then you are talking nonsense.

Any food will fuel your ride.Someone on a holiday tour will have different needs to someone riding THE tour but the principle is the same.So long as calories consumed matches or exceeds calories burned your ok.

Ok, if you think eating that in the middle of a ride is beneficial and your going to perform better for it then carry on, all it would do for me is make me puke after about 5 minutes. Personally i wouldn't eat swill like that without being on a bike let alone in the middle of a ride as I said everyone to their own if you wish to put that stuff inside you and think its clever to do so and ride a bike after as well then go for it.

 

[Mugshot]

Ok, if you think eating that in the middle of a ride is beneficial and your going to perform better for it then carry on, all it would do for me is make me puke after about 5 minutes. Personally i wouldn't eat swill like that without being on a bike let alone in the middle of a ride as I said everyone to their own if you wish to put that stuff inside you and think its clever to do so and ride a bike after as well then go for it.

Blimey @reacher it's only what someone had for dinner, do you always get so het up about what other people eat. Is this you looking through the window?

 

[Mugshot]

[QUOTE 5020041, member: 43827"]Speak for yourself! I have snack breaks and coffee breaks every couple of hours, whether I'm riding a bike or not.[/QUOTE]