Go shopping!
Visit all of your local bike shops and test ride bikes to your heart's content. When you come up with a short list of the bikes you liked the most that fit you and fit your budget...report back to help you narrow it down to 'the one'.
__________________
"Let us hope our weapons are never needed --but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government -- and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws" - Edward Abbey