I rode this bike, a Specialized Rockhopper, for 6 months including doing my first organized century on it in 2002. I'd done centuries before while touring in the early 90s on a mountain bike, also a Specialized Rockhopper.
I'm so glad you said this. I assumed that expecting to do a distance ride on a MTB was kind of out of the question. I'm not going for speed (aside from not wanting to be swept LOL), just the experience. This is very encouraging to know.

(Side note: my dad has that exact bike. I wish he'd ride it more.)

How about rewarding yourself from now on for every mile logged by 'paying yourself' a little something per mile to put toward that 'dreamy' new bike? $1/mile? $.50/mile? $10/hour?
I like this idea. Someone else mentioned logging miles. I've been mapping my routes on MapMyRide before I take them (just so I don't overextend myself and take too long to get back to work on time), so it's pretty easy to go log what I do there.

Remind yourself that you are *choosing* the pleasure of riding your bike---it's not a chore or a 'have-to'. It's amazing how a little shift in language can affect mindset. "Wow, I get to ride my bike for an hour today!" not "Ugh, I've got to get on the bike for an hour."
So true...my past experiences I've been getting motivation out of being able to say I did X for Y number of minutes/days in a row/whatever. But it was still me tolerating whatever the activity was. I've been waking up every morning saying "I get to go ride", not "if I go ride, I get to mark it on my chart". There were a couple of days this week that I *know* I would have opted to roll over and go back to sleep rather than go to the gym. This morning I didn't go because I really was too tired (I had biked 6 out of the past 7 days after doing *nothing* before that, and I think it caught up with me). Even now I'm hankering to go, but I'm working (sort of LOL), and it's really too hot now anyway. We have company so I won't be able to go tonight. Bummer.

Have all of your bike gear ready at a moment's notice so you can head out straight out the door when an opportunity to ride comes along. My bike bag is always organized: shoes, gloves, helmet, gels are stowed and handy; water bottles are under the sink.
I really need to do something about this. Part of the problem is that hubby & I are sharing gear right now. We ride at different times, so it's not really a problem that way, but I keep different things in the camelpack than him, etc. I really do need to get my own gear and that's something I won't wait for a long time to do.