indysteel and Jiffer, thanks for your responses.

I think I do need to figure out exactly what I am trying to do before starting on a training plan. When I was riding the most (about 10 years ago) I never really trained. I would just head out and ride. I worked up to a 50 mile organized ride that way, but I was in my early 20s then, so I am thinking a more organized approach will yield better results!

My big frustration when I rode in the past was that, although I could ride a long time, I was always very, very slow. When I would do organized rides (I did ACC yearly for about 6 or 7 years) I would always average between 9 - 10 mph. I never seemed to get any faster. So I would say that (after I build up some base miles) I would like to work on speed. I always felt really weak on hills, too, so I'd like to feel stronger in that area.

In some ways I have tons of time to train and in other ways very little...I am at home with my two year old son, so I have the freedom to head out anytime we want, BUT those are rides pulling the trailer. My son is very content for about 45 minutes or so...although if I plan a ride with a break midway through where we stop at a playground I think he's be happy to ride longer. So...I could do 1 1/2 hour rides every day but they would be rides with a longish break in the middle.

I also can ride in the evening after he goes to bed, or in the early am. Right now I run 3x a week in the evening so I could easily add a ride on the evening I don't run...these times are limited only by when it gets dark.

Just sort of thinking out loud here....