I live in an east Cleveland suburb, and I plan to bike to work once or twice daily for excercise and to reduce CO2 emissions.

I don't even have a bike now, so I'm goig to start by researching what I should look for in a bike. Should I consider a recumbant? I see you have forums dedicated to this; I'll be reading them.

As my name suggests, my favorite sport in Cleveland is
Rowing

If you are interested in a recumbent then go out and start test riding them. There are many configurations of 'bents. They are definately "different" and ride differently compared to a regular bike. For comfort they can't be beat in my opinion. It is possible to commute on a recumbent, and many people do so every day.