Thanks for the input. I unfortunately don't know many people with nice bikes in person.
I was thinking that maybe something like
http://lawrence.craigslist.org/bik/1272062460.html would be sufficient and will try to find some used bike stores around town. I just didn't know what attributes to look for. The bike I linked looks nice but beyond riding it and seeing if it feels good, I don't know what to look for.