Quote Originally Posted by indysteel View Post
Others may have different approaches, but on the longer rides I've done, I've tried to keep my stops short. On hilly rides especially, my legs tend to get really tight and heavy if I stop for more than a few minutes. At the Horsey Hundred, I made the mistake of stopping at every rest stop and hanging out for a bit. Not only did it make the day really long, but it made the next few miles after the stop pure torture. Since then, I get in and get out in as little time as possible. A lot of organized rides have very frequent SAGs. It's nice to know that they're there, but you don't necessarily have to stop at each of them IMO.
I agree with Indy, but I'm a horse of a slightly different colour. I'm training for IM right now and as part of my training I've done more than 6 rides in the last 2 months that were at least 6 hours in length. That has translated to as little as 75 miles (hilly and windy 6 hours) to as much as 107 miles (hilly but not wind and 7 hours of riding time, 7.5 hours total). My biggest problem is getting grumpy after a certain number of hours in the saddle. So I like to keep my day as short as possible by limiting my rest breaks. Having said that, I can ride a fair pitch for a long time and still be riding at a conversational pace. When you're riding at this intensity you don't need to break as often. If you're on a hilly ride and not used to it, you'll need your rest more often.

As for food and hydration, I have nothing to add there. I think everyone has covered the essentials. Set a eating schedule and stick to it. I eat 100 cal every half hour and drink nothing but electrolyte replacement. I take in at least one bottle of fluids per hour.