Haha, that's a great way to look at it. I'm most likely going to look for a semi used cannondale, fuji, or trek. One other main question that I forgot to include is what speed bike should I get? In terms of speed for racing I have no idea what to get. I've seen some 8 or 10 speed ranging all the way to 24 speed (i think even 29)...

edit- ninjaman Yeah I agree with you. I've been searching for hours (sometimes a bit additively) with around a 1 1/2-2 hour radius and have found quite a few Fuji and trek bikes that aren't too old. What this comes back to again is what speed bike should I get?