Need a bike!

Congrats on completing your first tri ... now hide your wallet, b/c this habit approaches expenses usually reserved for a rock star's crack habit.

I too felt the exact same thing when I completed my first sprint ... after huffing it up the hills on my mtn bike with slicks ... and promptly went into denial about how much the bike would cost me.

Skip this step and embrace the fact that you are going to spend more money on this than you should (or any sane person could reason).

Once done, then check out http://penncycle.com/site/itemdetails.cfm?ID=5210&Catalog=39&sort=P... ... for about $200 more, you can get a significant upgrade in components + wheel set in the Giant OCR 1.

Now is definitely the time to buy as the season wanes and the 2006 models come out.

That being said, after blowing your budget on the bike - you do can start saving your money on other areas: make your own protien bars (my wife 'cooks' up a mean batch of peanut butter/oatmeal mix), buy your work out closes from Wal-Mart or Kohls instead of All3Sports and so forth.

You'll be amazed how $45 here, $25 there and $40 over there adds up!

PS: Also test drive the Bianchi + LeMond steel frames, if for no other reason than to compare to the aluminum frames.

Get something OTHER than the F90!!!

I made the mistake of buying that damn thing last year. You'll have to recable the brakes because it has FOUR levers (two sets) of brakes, one on the shifters, and one on the tops. You'll have to remove the ones on the tops to be able to put aero bars on it, and then recable.

I don't think it's worth it. Go an easier route.