Last summer I renewed my love affair with bicycling. Since then I've conquered hills that I initially thought would kill me ( ), I've lost a few pounds, and I ride to work at least 3x per week (approx. 6 mile roundtrip). On the weekends I hop on my bike and tool around for an hour or so. But I have been maxing out at about 10 miles.

I want to do longer rides, but I realized today that the reason I haven't done so is that I'm afraid to. I'm not talking about a century, I just want to try my hand at something like a 20-miler. But I worry that I'll get too pooped to make it back home. It's a weird mental barricade that has kept me from "going for it."

Have any of you ever experienced this? Any tips on breaking my mental mileage barrier?