a few questions to get started
hello, I am new to the sport and honestly not sure if I will get into the racing aspect of Cyclocross or just keep it as a fun pass time for myself to stay busy. I have never been into cycling before and I'm looking to get into it now, I am 25 yrs old and average fitness level, I am currently in the Navy and stationed in Naples Italy. I am shopping on a budget and finding it increasingly difficult to find a local shop to take a look at some bikes, I am however interested in a cyclocross bike because I belie it will withstand the rough cobblestone roads in the area better, and it will be a better all around commuting bike for me if I can actually get motivated to get into this. my biggest demotivator is the prices I've seen for everything just to get started. I have no idea what size bike I will need and therefore it makes it extremely difficult to reasonably shop for something online, and there is where I run into my problem with finding local shops. I am not looking to spend more than $1500 to get everything to get started, I have a few other things I will need to get in addition to just the bike, can you recommend a good starting point to look at that is affordable and perhaps help with recommending a place to look for local shops in the area (I've looked at the postings on the community connections pages already and they are all talking about northern Italy and Rome area, and yes I have tried google)
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!