I worked my way up, during the summer of 1997, from short 5 mile rides to 15 miles, to 30 miles, and in the longest single day's ride of the year, 50 miles.

I read The (Re-)Emergence of The Commuter by Paco the WonderNerd (a.k.a. Frank Paiano). This article describes how a 37 year old, 30 pound overweight guy worked up to a 40 mile round-trip commute after 10 years off the bicycle. It's not too hard to see that this would inspire a 43 year old, 30 pound overweight guy who hadn't ridden for about 5 years.

Like Paco, I started driving partway to work and riding the rest of the way. By the end of the summer I worked my way up to about 15 miles round trip on the bike, with an occasional ride one-way of 20 miles. In the process, I lost about 20 pounds. As of the spring of 1998 I'm on my way to losing 10 more pounds.