I like sequimite's suggestion of a mountain bike, as long as you picked up some slicker tires as you will be riding all roads as you say. This will give you an upright position, plenty of gears for hill climbing.

Some bikes that would be a good start: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...d=10Rockhopper, http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...dtail/820/820/, or http://www.cannondale.com/usa/usaeng...s/1291-0FS5-F5

I personally think, due to the fact that you said you were going to be riding roads only, you want an upright riding position, and you want som utility out of your bike, why not get something like this?

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...allant/allant/

Its in your price range, has more road correct tires, upright riding position, utility, etc.

I'm still very new at this, but I'm very similar to you. My only bikes were a Toys R Us mountain bike, where i'm to big for it and trashed the derailers. So I went out and bought a road bike, and I used it to commute to work.

Maybe something like this: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/bike_path/fx/72fx/ will be better?

Just some suggestions.