It was my second year in the flatlands but about my sixth year of cycling where I got to the point of being able to go out and do a century any old time.
I might have been able to condense those first four years some; out here it is FLAT... and i was unemployed (and then doing free-lance writing), so that gave me time to ride and get in shape (which I did at my own speed so it was relatively painless :-P )