Best way to convert RAW ?

I was never really a RAW user before, but today I tried using RAW+JPG on my 30D at an early morning soccer game that was plagued by harsh light & shadows, and to my surprise I can CLEARLY see a difference in IQ & color rendition (girls wearing breast cancer pink jerseys) between the two, with the RAW files the better of the two. Now I'd like to use those RAW files to convert into JPEGS. So how would I go about that ? Are there multiple options ?  What do most folks here do ?

I have an older copy of Adobe LightRoom 2, but I'm not sure of the workflow/steps required to turn the RAW files into useable, and smaller sized, JPEGS.

Does there exist, on the web or somewhere else, a tutorial on how to do this ? one that is not a science project.

Thanks in advance

Dave B