For a good work-out in less than an hour, I take my moutain bike to a trail nearby, importance is not the distance you cover but the speed you move your legs. Five to ten miles to start should work, then increase by increments. I see bikers, mostly road, pushing the largest crank they have with the ugliest frawn on their face, they're pumping iron but not working out.
If I have more than an hour, ideally three hours, I take the road bike. (kept a 24 years old road from my racing days in younger years).
A young kid should not prevent you from riding, have a two year old girl that I bring often along in a trailer (not on difficult trails though
). Need to stay away from traffic though. Wife comes along occasionally and sometime represents me at church from Easter to Xmas, while I prey for more bicycle lanes and trail preservation.
A good bicycle roof or trunk rack is good to bring the bike anywhere and escape out of a city (or while the family enters church on Easter Sunday for example...
).
Oh yes, the lawn, I get someone to cut it and if it burns during the summer, then let nature follow its course.
Two bikes I purchased in the last five years I would recommend to the occasional/week-end rider:
Mountain: IBEX Ignition-1 (see
www.ibexbikes.com, their trail bikes are awesome bargains)
Hybrid: Bianchi Boardwalk (wonderful hybrid, nothing sissi about it... :confused: )