Video camera reccomendations?

I've been thinking about getting a camera good for taking bike videos, taking along on fishing trips and that sort of thing. As always I'm on a tight budget, so price is a major consideration. This summer I'd like to work on a couple of bike videos as a kind of art project, trying to do a good job of it. As a young man I was interested in and taught film making, so I would like to do something nice showing a ride through the forest of northeastern Minnesota.
It must have a tripod mounting plate, which I assume most or all do. I want one with a remote microphone jack so that I can use a windscreen filter to cut out most of the wind noise. A jack for remote on off would be good, too. I don't care about low light capability or fancy features. Decent battery run time would be good. I need to be able to edit the footage either with bundled software or something else in freeware. I want videos easy on the eyes and ears. Any suggestions?
SB

Thank you both for responding. I think you're right about the external mic jack. The wind sounds are a real distraction. I suppose a person could shut off the sound and use a different recording device for the sound track. That way you could have some control over wind noise with a wind screen, but this complicates things, doesn't it? Sigh. Nothing is ever as simple as I want it to be. Still looking for a camera...
SB