Tom, its a tough one here, you have now written that you dont want to try it, but the fact is that for folks that dont grow up doing outdoor activities involving camping, at least the friends I have who are like you, there really is a mindset of how awful it is, will be, and thats the end of it.

I have a couple of friends who just have it set in their minds that camping will be uncomfortable, and generally a hardship--part of this comes from never having done it, and therefore not having the instincts of what to do, what not to do. The whole bug thing you mention is pretty common with "city folk" who have never had to deal with bugs, for those of us who have been doing outdoor stuff, we tend to know what stuff to wear when its buggy, when to be out and not in a tent--all things that make it bearable.

I dont like getting bitten by bugs any more than anyone else, but I know that wearing long pants and long sleeves and a hat will help a lot, but there are times when as machka mentioned, I just dont hang out after dark, and especially not at that dusk period.
On bike trips when camping, Ive been pretty lucky in that most of my trips have been in places where the bugs werent an issue (France, West Coast of USA) however, my childhood hiking and canoe camping experiences had some awful bug situations, where I sure as heck learned how to deal with them, and also, learn WHEN not to be out in a given area, ie in blackfly season, or mozzie areas that were just awful.

different areas can be so diff bug wise, and unfortunately there are times when the bugs are so bad, you just stay in your tent, which is never that fun.

realistically though, on a bike trip, ending the day in mid to late afternoon in summer time will give you lots of time to set up tent, shower, wash clothes in shower or sink, hang them up and make supper and wash up before dusk when there may or not be bugs coming out. Ive always been so tired anyway that hanging out after dark (9pm lets say) was never an option.

again, you've come on the internet to get strangers to convince you to do something that you havent done in your life before, and dont really want to do, and have come to the conclusion that its really not what you want to do....thats perfectly ok, I guess you just make me think of my friends who view camping as this torture type situation, but as they never ever did it in their lives, not sleeping in a bed and not having any idea of what and how to deal with bugs.
Years ago we finally convinced some friends to come camping with us , their kids were the same age as ours. The husband hated camping but finally agreed to his wifes convincing. Totally bad luck, they had a cheapo tent, there were horrendous thunderstorms and heavy heavy rain, they got swamped out in the tent, sleeping bags got soaked, and the wife even got some poison ivy....this bad luck experience completely and totally confirmed for him that camping was nuts....but if they had had a good tent, they wouldnt have gotten wet, if they hadn't put their tent up in a dip they wouldnt have been in a giant puddle, if they didnt have old cotten type sleeping bags it wouldnt have been so bad, if the wife knew what poison ivy looked like, she wouldnt have gotten into it.....lots of "ifs", but the sad thing is that it ended up being a situation that just confirmed his view of camping---but it could have been fine too....

the thing is, it doesnt have to be bad, if the weather and campsite are reasonable, it can be wonderful, but it certainly does come down to your whole life view of what is "acceptable" or " comfortable".
One of my best friends poo poos even a basic motel, and diff people have completely different views of what is an acceptable place to sleep, and quite frankly, as "first world" folks, we have life pretty damn easy compared to most people in the world, and what some people think is a "requirement" or "minimum" in their lives for all kinds of things can be, well, very "first world".
I know I am very privileged being born where I was, didnt mean to bring this topic into this whole area, and hope it didnt come across in the wrong way.

enjoy your bike traveling no matter where you sleep.