I did it!
 

Oh, I am so proud of myself. I did a practise run of my 5 km each way commute today. It's all good. Did each way in about 35min, keeping in mind that I am still braking while riding down hill most of the time so I know I can go faster. Was very glad I did a test runduring day time since I'll be mostly doing it at night. Because of this I found a short cut. So it's probably more like 4.5km each way. I measured this using my cars odemeter so it's not all that accurate.

Just though I would share this with every seeing as I am so happy.

A small problem I saw though. This ride takes me past 3 shopping centres, 3 pizza shops, a hungry jacks, a subway, a red rooster, a KFC and a maccas. Self control, self control!!

Have a nice day!

Congrats, enjoy the real thing!

Keep going! You'll never believe how far and fast you can go when you just keep pushing!

Teehee, I did have to get off and push the bike up one hill and make lots of use of a granny gears.
On my new Trek 3900, it's good knowing that you only really have a lower end bike but it is still better then most I see around. Have to ride it more before first service, still have yet to change to slicks too. Even faster!

And before anyone starts telling me I shouldn't have got a mountain bike, I don't care.

Granny gears are your friends!!

Awesome on your ride. And I hear the call of the KFC buffet every day on the way home. It's right there at a light that is red every day, leaving me staring in the window... So far I have resisted!

Don't forget that everyone's lowest gear is 24 inches - that's 2 feet :)
Congrats on making the right choices. Don't stop riding and dont stop at for junk food. You'll be flying up that hill in no time.

Mountainbikes are better at climbing hills normally - so you have the right thing until the hills flatten out. Honestly, eventually they do.

After that - you could switch if you wished, but there really is no need with only 5 kilometers.