I have a horrible track record of keeping with exercise. I start off all gung-ho, but then somewhere between 3-6 months later, I just fall off.

I don't want to do this with cycling. I don't think I will, because I really do enjoy it (and I have since I was 15, so this isn't a "ooooh this is all new and shiney and cool" kind of thing). That's not something I would have ever said about anything else I've done (and I admitted it at the time; my excitement was more about the thrill of being able to say I did it, than actually enjoying the activity itself). There is a zen about riding that I haven't felt with anything else (other than sitting under a tree in cool weather with a good book, but that doesn't really count as exercise ). And I'm noticing that while I'm looking at my times and distances in order to see improvement, it seems to be more of looking at results after the fact, rather than the other way around. When I ride, it's for the fun of it, and seeing how far I can go. But I don't want to go gung ho into buying an expensive new bike only to fall off again.

I know only I can prevent that from happening, but I'm just wondering if there are others who were in a similar situation, and what you did about it. I'm thinking of giving myself a time frame after which I can have a new bike as I think a reward system for myself would be good. But at the same time, my current bike is pretty tough to ride so I hate to "torture" myself, too. I've read posts of others who were plodding along on an old mountain bike (like myself) and how dreamy their new road bikes felt afterwards. I want that dreamy feeling. Part of me wants to run right down to a LBS, get fitted, and put a bike on layaway (no way can I afford one up front right now, anyway), but the logical/sometimes overly-reasonable side says I should hold off.

Thoughts?