Is there any research on the impact of 5-minute stops during long endurance rides of 3-9 hours? I’m wondering whether the number and duration of stops matter much for the training adaptation process.
Stops would be for a bathroom break, water refill, mixing carbs, or just stretching.
I’d say minimal effect, certainly less than pissing yourself.
Risks reward is negative.
Structured or unstructured endurance rides of 9 hours?
No
There is going to be no measurable impact of this on a longer endurance ride.
Reasonableness matters. If you stopped for 10 minutes every hour, Likely over time one could begin to see a difference in the training outcome. But a short stop every 2-3 hours is not going to change a thing and may only help.
Think of it this way, on short structured interval days, science has proven that alternating to short rest periods actually helps you do more work and is better for your training. Why would this not extend to endurance? Pro cyclists do it on their long days, runners take walking breaks between intervals. A little time to regroup and refuel will likely pay off late in the ride.
Some time crunched people and those who do long endurance on the trainer want to maximize their zone 2 time. They usually stress minimizing pedaling breaks (coasting) and stops. But don’t confuse this tactic with an actual detriment to your endurance if you have the time to go long and take a couple stops along the way. As long as your total time of actually riding zone 2 is the same, you are gonna be fine.
No specific research I am aware of.
Stopping for 5m a handful of times during a 3-9hr endurance ride wont make any real difference
For me, the impact of not stopping is a less enjoyable ride. I like short breaks. Just step off the bike, eat something, and keep going. I rarely stop for more than 5 minutes.
What would the alternative plan to stopping for the bathroom be on a 9-hour bike?
There are some changes that start to happen after you rest for even 10-15min after a few hours on the bike. If you look at HR and power you’ve likely noticed that after a longer break your HR is higher for a given power output when you get back on the bike - it’s related to your body starting to enter recovery mode and some of the humoral changes that happen to facilitate this.
Does this have a noticeable impact on training? Not that I’m aware of.