Anybody into Cycling?

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So here's my issue: I want to keep exercising regularly now that I'm out of the corps, but I frikkin hate running, so I thought I'd start riding a bike into work. It's an easy run at 7 miles on the dot, and biking would be easier still, but a total of 14 miles daily would be enough to keep me on par with my preferred general physical shape.

There is a fly in this ointment however.

I know nothing about actual cycling. The last time I rode a bike that wasn't digital and slightly recling which was also conveniently located in an air conditioned building was, oh, a decade or so ago. If not longer. So I don't know what kind of bike I'll need. I go to biking sites and they have bike models I've never even heard about. Hybrid bikes? Touring bikes? Cruising bikes? I look at them and can't discern what the possible intent of riding such contraptions are. All I can tell is that they cost more than the motion-picture boxes I'd rather be sitting in front of, perhaps with a cold drink, and a scantily clothed woman undulating within the plasma.

So my question to you all is two fold: Who here is actually into cycling, and who can give me good advice on what type of bike I'll need. I live in a suburban area, but I'll have to be riding on the highway a short bit before I get to the gate. It'll mostly be a road bike, but I also want to be able to take it into the grass should John Q. I'mdrunkatthewheel choose to veer sharply in my general direction.

Ask yourself.

Are you a bad enough Dude to recommend me a bike?