Cross bikes are great and all that, but consider this $600 road bike (incidentally, seems the middle of winter is a great time to buy a bike). The components aren't as good, but they are serviceable, and a road bike is the right choice if you are riding on the road.
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._20000__400306
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Cat 2 Track, Cat 3 Road.
"If you’re new enough [to racing] that you would ask such question, then i would hazard a guess that if you just made up a workout that sounded hard to do, and did it, you’d probably get faster." --
the tiniest sprinter