First & second centuries I ever rode in my life was on a vintage steel road bike with a double. It has 1 water bottle cage attached so I took it to my LBS and they rigged a second cage up for me - it's still on there. Don't remember anymore what the rings are but I love that bike and I love the ride of steel.

I finally got a vintage road bike with a triple and 2 water bottle cages, alum and I've ridden most of my miles on that one. I ride both road bikes on our bike paths here which are paved but I also ride with slimed tubes due to goat heads thorns and glass in the street. I can't even imagine trying to ride 100 miles on a MTB but I know ppl that do.

As for the breaks: it wasn't until my last century that I finally decided it was ok to stop and actually 'get off the bike ' to do things like eat and fill up water bottles and wow - pee! What a concept!!