OP: I am in the Air Force and ride 5 miles to Langley AFB. The roads on base are fine for me. The drivers are what irritate me. No one shares the road, and a lot of the motorists on base are jerks. Case in point, I was riding to work Monday and there's a motorist in the same lane as me to my left. I look at the motorist and she waves me over. I start to change lanes to the left and then she has the nerve to roll down her windows and scream at the top of her lungs, "USE YOUR HAND SIGNALS!" Normally I do use my hand signals, but she waved me over. It took everything inside of me that is good to not give her a one finger salute. Oh well. As far as your steed goes, I have a Trek 7.5FX that I converted to drop bars and bar end shifters and it works great for me. The 700x32 Bontrager Hardcase tires do the job, but they might need to go in the winter. I would suggest a used hybrid with relaxed geometry. Good luck!