Thursday Night Training Rides Resume for 2023

How to improve your cycling: Get out & ride
By Bruce Wells on 2023-03-06 updated 2023-03-11

I am often asked how to improve your cycling strength, and the simple answer is to come out and ride with people who are stronger than you are.  If you can ride mid week, you should. The Thursday night training rides are a great way to improve your fitness, hill climbing and speed. We work on all three on the ride.  All riders are welcome, but remember, you have to want to improve your riding and be motivated to ride as hard as you can.  This is not an easy ride.  You must be at least a B+ rider to consider attempting this ride.

These training rides are different from a standard WCC ride in several ways.  First, it is the same route every week (with the only variations being determined by daylight).  Second, we do not provide cue sheets.  You can find the routes here. Third, slower riders will be dropped after a while, but I try to keep the group together as long as possible. We will try to push you up a hill if you are trying to stay on.  The clue to this ride, and improving your riding abilities, is to come out consistently every week, and to give it all you got. If you get dropped, you come out next week and try to stay on longer. You will get better, I promise.

I am listing both the Tuesday and Thursday night rides in the ride schedule. They are the same ride, but Tuesday is harder with more experienced riders.  Thursday is more tempo riding, but still hard.  Come out on Thursday. If Thursday is easy, try Tuesday. If you can do both, you should, as riding twice a week will get you in shape faster than once a week.

If you are thinking about coming out on these rides, it is really important to come out early and consistently. The first 2 Thursday night rides are just 23 miles. We only do the first part of Whippoorwill and then head downhill on the newly paved Whippoorwill East into Armonk.  We will wait at the top and at the light. Every two weeks after that, we add mileage. By midsummer, we are riding 48 miles at a 19-20+ mph pace. I know that sounds unbelievable, but I have seen many people do it when they come out every week. I have lost count of the number of riders who made the commitment to riding every Thursday night and become amazing riders. You can too if you come out every week.

We leave the Waller Ave parking lot (between Post Rd and Maple Ave) in White Plains at 5:30pm sharp.  If you are running late, try parking at the Stop and Shop on Rt 22 in North White Plains and meet us on the road.  If you park at the Waller Ave lot, you must feed the meters, as they are 24 hours, or find free parking further south on Waller Ave or the surrounding neighborhood.

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