One more thing!
Should your front tire prove to be too "knobby", there are alternate tire treads. One of my old roommates had a specialized FSR, and he replaced the front tire with one that was partially what looked like a slick (nearly treadless down the middle), and had knobs to the sides. So if it got too bad, he could go offroad, but the less knobby profile gave better traction and a smoother (and easier) ride on the longer rides we took. I think the farthest him and I did was about 25 miles, and we cruised along in the morning. I noticed he had a bit of an easier time with his tires than I did. But I was also a LOT stronger than him, so it didn't really matter since I was able to keep up.
Just an FYI... you've got MANY options out there. The bike store you got your bike from might be a good place to look at different options. One of the online places to look is
www.bikenashbar.com or REI.
EDIT: Aha! Here is the tire I was looking for:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=
I thought the type went by another name than "hybrid" for some reason.