Originally Posted by texaspandj

Cool Eric, sounds good. But what about budget?
Once again, any bike will get you through it, even your mountain bike. But kinda sounds like you want to get a little more out of the bike ride portion. Can't blame you for that! So, a Road Bike (not a triathlon specific bike) sounds like the perfect setup for you. As you get more experienced with the handling, you can add accessories and such to make you more aero, providing it becomes your thing. Or maybe pure cycling will be your thing and you will have they covered as well with a Road Bike.
So budget and a 54cm to 56cm is your main factors when test riding your prospective bikes ...so go from there.