@stevey if the stock pads aren't doing it for you after some weeks, get some Salmon Kool Stops, they work well for me and are very highly regarded in the road community!
@Goonerobes Great ride its awesome seeing progression, even better when you feel it (occasionally!),
@Nigelnaturist I remember like me you were stuck around 13.5mph average for a long time, then you have kitted up a bit and your roasting that road now. 15.8mph average over your distance is really great.
@SpokeyDokey like
@Nigelnaturist congrats on the great average, the right fit and shape on your bike will naturally lead to better performance, but you still have to put the effort in, so well done.
@MaxInc Must feel great coming down a few waist sizes! Still hasn't happened to me yet lol. On the subject of bargains I picked up a genuine leather Ted Baker manbag in the airport for £26 yesterday! OK this is getting weird, moving on...
@boybiker Well done getting on with the cycling anyways after a nasty accident, the more you do it the more you can put that to the back of your mind, no doubt commuting everyday will help. Obviously that is already well underway with 17mph+ average speeds you go there! Nice one.
@Tracey Robinson 
Welcome to the site and
The Best Thread On The Internet™. The 58 miles is quite a distance but so doable if you just spend time on the bike. There's no secret formula, just do it over and over. Soon your current distance will feel to short and you can edge it up. Keep doing this, get to so you could comfortably do 45 odd miles at will and it will be in the bag!
Re the knees this is super important. Like Mo said the first thing to do is to raise the saddle. When you sit on the saddle put one of the pedals to 6 oclock and (wearing your cycling shoes, whatever you normally wear) put your heel on the pedal.
If your leg is absolutely straight then its the perfect place for the saddle to start at. Tighten and when you pedal with the ball of your foot on the pedal, there should be a slight kink in the leg. Now just your legs will ache post ride, not your knees. Thing is the muscle in the leg that aches is supposed to ache post ride - the knee isn't!
I know this technique works because I did it myself this last week and it was a revelation to me and my post ride ability to bend down and get back up again without sounding like an unfit 70 year old!
Also, try getting the rides you do down somewhere. Be it from a smartphone app / dedicated device to sites like
Strava (popular one) or
Endomondo or
MapMyRide. If you have neither, record them manually when you get home on a site like
http://www.mycyclinglog.com/ like quite a few here do. If you are pc averse, write it on good old fashioned paper!
Why would you do this? To see your own progress (which is all that matters, not comparisons to others) over time. It works as a great motivator, and when your smashing along at 15 mph you can think back to all those 10-12 mph days and let out an overly long evil laugh, like I do.
I picked up my bike from the LBS today after having one of
these fitted and good lord! I went 18 miles without a creak from that BB30 shell for once! Should have done this months ago. Apparently the old BB30 - Shimano bearing adapter had seized inside the shell, was a bugger to get out apparently. Its now in a carrier bag of shame hanging on the door. It may end up in refuse..
Gave the ride a little more oomph than usual to really push the new component, and ended up getting 25 PR's on my favourite route. This is a route Ive done lots so the PRs actually do mean something to me. I set a target a couple of months ago to get round Richmond Park counter clockwise under 29 minutes, today I did it in 23 minutes 9 seconds, which was 1 minute and 40 seconds better than my previous PR!
Had a little incident where I started to feel aching in the knees, then noticed my saddle was down about 3 inches from what it had started! *Note to self - When picking up bike from LBS, check seatpost screw tightness!*
Finished with a PB average of 16.1 mph, although Garmin says 16.3, so Im going with that!
http://app.strava.com/activities/61530802#
