Catrin, there is nothing wrong with stopping the bike alongside the road in the shade of a tree, planting your feet, and taking a few minutes to drink and eat. There is no rule that you must drink and eat while pedaling, especially if you are primarily a solo cyclist. The stoppped time also gives you the opportunity to reflect on your heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, body temp, etc., to make sure you have no symptoms. The cyclists I know will stop at specific points based on either 1)calories burned, 2)distance or 3)time. I use calories burned because I cycle with low blood sugars also and I stop to refuel at specific levels, every 800-1200 calories burned, eat and drink, and that will usually keep something from happening.

I always plan my distance rides to either go by farm stands, small farm town grocery stores or parks, where I can get water to fill my water bowls. I have even gone right up to farm houses and used their garden hose to fill my water bottles. I carry electrolyte powders to put in my water bottles.

On this last Saturday, I did a century in the extreme heat, with the temp on the bike being in excess of 100. I did all sorts of things to keep from getting heat stroke and dehydration and low electrolytes, like cooling down in a hay barn and once standing in a farmer's sprinklers until my entire body was soaked. But for the first time ever, I got severe cramps in my right leg after a 3-mile climb, so everything I did still wasn't enough. Yet I was quite lucky because at the end I was told that a lot of cyclists had to call for help from their relatives or friends or event volunteers, that one male century cyclist had a possible heart attack at mile 60, and that many metric cyclists had possible heat stroke/dehydration issues. The lesson I learned is that when the temp goes high, to do shorter distances or not to ride at all.

And yes, you are correct, the most difficult part of increasing the miles is actually the nutrition and liquid intake, figuring it out, adjusting and tinkering with it, and then you will find the years go by and you are still tinkering with it.