Newbie / bike commuter seeks training program advice

An olympic bike distance is not much when you think about; it's a mere 40K and you can do that.  But, while there is no concern that you might not be able to do 40K on a bike, there might be a bit of concern with doing that distance quickly.  You need to gear your training towards three different aspects of cycling: speed, strength and endurance.  Your daily commute of 2x half an hour might be good for strength--depending on whether there are hills on your route--but you need to incorporate speed and endurance training.  Take a look at the 3x Olympic training program offered on the main page, which calls for a short, a medium, and a long bike training session each week.  You have access to Lifecycle so you can do your speed training on this; in my opinion, this is actually better than trying to race on the road with traffic, lights, and stop signs.  Also, for endurance you might think about taking a longer route home once a week.