Nice thread! As a road cycling beginner, I like the idea of reporting in on rides!

So this was the second weekend with the new Kona Sutra. I rode twice, Saturday 16.8 miles "flat", Sunday a bit over 15 miles "hilly". It looks to me as if 50 miles/week could be a realistic goal for me to start out with. Does this sound reasonable?

Where I live, there's basically 1 road (that's not untypical for Alaska). I'm at mile 21 (well, about a mile off, via currently muddy unpaved side roads). It ends at mile 53 or so at a resort built around natural hot springs, and afterwards there's wilderness and then, somewhere, Canada. Mile 1 is a little outside Fairbanks, and at about mile 7 or so a road goes off to the town of North Pole. The bit between Fairbanks and where I am is pretty hilly (for me), older pavement with some chipseal and potholes, but a shoulder (presently occupied by lose gravel). The bit between me and the end of the road is nearly completely flat, has a new road surface, fewer cars, and no shoulder. The road passes in a river valley through a very picturesque State Recreation Area with numerous hiking trails going off (into the mountains), fishing ponds... It's extremely beautiful to drive out a little bit, to one of the trailheads, and ride out a few trailheads down, turn around.

If I want to ride anywhere else than on this road (or the one at right angles at mile 7) I need to drive. Or to get a mountain bike, which I may.