I'm getting so much faster!
It's been less than two months since I started riding, and I've already improved in leaps and bounds. My first ride into town took me over an hour to ride 12.5 km (7.8 miles). Yesterday and today I rode the same route in 37 and 40 minutes respectively without much trouble. It's mostly downhill, but when I decided to really push on the gas on today's trip back, I managed to do the harder, mostly uphill section in 40 minutes as well! That, on the other hand, WAS hard; my legs aren't happy with me, but to hell with them, I'm not riding again for another 3 or 4 days anyway.
It didn't really feel like I've been going that much faster, but I've definitely gotten a lot more skilled, and probably a fair bit fitter as well. One more ride and I'll get my 200 km (125 mile) goal for the month too. I've been budgeting an hour each way for each 25 km (15.6 mile) round trip, but now I can probably budget 45 minutes for it.
Next step is to get road tires on the bike, probably next week, and I should be able to shave another few minutes off each way with that addition. As I've said before; being a beginner at something is great, because you improve so ridiculously quickly. Life is good :)