Hi.
Question 1 :
For Endurance 3,4,5 and 6. Do we have to cycle continuously without stopping… or we can take a break like 5 or 10 minutes in between… maybe at every hour.
Question 2
What if instead of riding 5 hours continuously, can we break into endurance 2 + endurance 2 and endurance 1 on the same day? Will this affect us differently?
Thank you.
Hey @Sashikumarshan and welcome to the forums!
I know I’ve seen the coaches comment on this type of question before and taking breaks is fine as is breaking up the rides during the day. The goal is to build volume, not to die of boredom 
Speaking of boredom, if you are able to you could also ride these outdoors 
Edit: I should add that this will also depend somewhat on what your goal is. Eg. if you have an event where you’ll need to stay on the bike for long periods of time and you haven’t done that before, it’s good practice.
Adding a similar reply to Glenn’s - this is def in the realms of do what it takes to get some decent ‘time’. And if that means going and making a cup of tea occasionally, walking around the house, whatever, then do that.
Remember and at least stand up occasionally (if that suits you) to change the position for a bit, even change kit part way through a couple of times.
If this is done indoors it’s very different to a lot of outdoor riding where there’ll be descents where one isn’t pedalling and possibly standing up to move about/get air/reposition etc. so if it was me - I’d first look to make it outdoors, it if indoors it is I’d have spare change if kit, quite a few breaks (I suspect in my case more often than hourly)
Good question! I remember hearing from a coach once that pauses, e.g. nature breaks, are fine, but long stops that break up the ride will give you the metabolic adaptations of 2 shorter rides rather than one long one. If you are training for long distances, it’s probably best to do the rides all at once.
On the other hand, if breaking up the rides is the only way you’re going to get them done, then that’s a great deal better than not doing them!
I treat those rides as I would long distance rides outside.
Hi 
! Dear all.
Thank you so much for all the replies and inputs and sharings. It gives me a lot of things I can work on .
Happy cycling! And thank you again!
Welcome to the forum @Sashikumarshan!
Just to chime in, I did the Endurance 3 outdoors a fortnight ago and nope didn’t take prolonged stops in between the 3 hours but only freewheeling when doing down a descent. As Sir Martin pointed out above.
I don’t see myself cycling at that kind of HRZ2 pace for 3 hours as I would definitely die of boredom and thus took it outdoors instead. I’d rather have the Knighthood Quest kill me first than the Endurance rides. 
Muahahahaha
Not yet Sir, although I have to admit, it’s exactly 19 days till the day I attempted the Quest last year.
An anniversary quest is not in the pipeline for now, at least not until I am done with the L’etape Johor in July.
I’ll mark my calendar for August then 
I’d LOVE to do one the L’Etapes. Maybe one day when all the stars align.
Have a great time Sir! And come back to tel us all about it.
I have ridden 3+ hours straight on my indoor trainer. Have done endurance 3 as well as some others.
You certainly should be able to ride the whole way on your trainer. But it definitely helps if you’re riding with RGT or another virtual world on another device to look at. Or while watching a stage of the Giro or another bike race. I have found my cadence tends to creep up while watching races as they enter the final few Km.
If you ride endurance 3 or 4 and need to take a 5-10 minute comfort break once or twice it definitely won’t hurt your workout at all. But if you take 15, 20, 30 minute breaks then that will begin to change the effort and the adaptations.
Alternatively, you can ride ISLTA and turn down the power targets to make it Zone 2 and that also would give you something to ride to. I did that for my first indoor century ride. When the workout finished I simply paused and rewound it to the beginning rather than stopping and starting a new session. I rode it approx 2 and a half times through at around 75-80%.
thank you so much @DarrenWCKam and @emacdoug . Thank you for the sharings.
Did the endurance 3 last Sunday, indoor, without video, stopped at 1.5 hours for washroom break, then continue for another 1.5 hour, during that off saddle few times on the bike cause the bum was feeling uneasy.
thank you again.
hi @Heretic, thank you for sharing. awesome informations
Regarding your item no 2, Is it possible to share more how you did it, of course we are different, but any inputs will be valuable for me to try …
thank you
I drink when I am thirsty, I do not try to anticipate thirst. We have a pretty good evolutionary mechanism for thirst (unlike fueling). I also do not drink more than I can absorb at the moment.
For a scientific discussion:
The perfect hydration strategy during exercise is simpler than you think. Join Prof. Ross Tucker and Mike Finch as they delve into the science, discuss how advice has been corrupted by suspect marketing claims and why drinking too much may be a bigger threat to health.
hi @Heretic . Thank you so much! . and for the podcast shared. listening to it as I’m typing this reply.
thank you!!!
Oh no, please don’t.
Short story again? 
That sounds rough, that’s the reason I take it outdoors if I have to ride that many hours with exception for the Quest last year.
I didn’t have much bottom uneasiness when I did that 3 hours considering that I was riding on a new saddle. But the off the saddle freewheeling did do wonders though. 
thank you @DarrenWCKam . Have a great one at L’etape Desaru. see you there!!!
You’re joining L’etape Desaru too? Awesome! Let’s shred some chamois. 
Actually there will be another one of us Sufferlandrian who will be there and he’s also a KoS.
I’d probably open a new thread in the forum sometime towards the end of this month to share photos and experience for the enterpainment pleasure of this beautifully horrible mythical nation, SUF.
hi @DarrenWCKam . yes… me and 4 friends. Nice to know more sufferlandrian from here.
We are just recreational cyclist… just slow and easy haha.
See you there @DarrenWCKam !!
THANK YOU!
