Gearing up for the 2nd season

Hey BT Community,

My name is Nathan and I'm gearing up for my second season doing Tri's.

I got into cycling when I was a Sr. in High School and then my bike got stolen over summer break between my Freshman and Sophomore Year in college (Looking back it wasn't too tragic... it was one of those GMC bikes from Walmart... but at the time i was ticked). Then two years ago my wife and I moved to Germany for an 2 year internship and a college and I randomly decided to enter a Triathlon together. I had been training on an old mountain bike and was planning on using that for the race. Then my buddy had to drop out for health reasons and he was my ride to the race (over 3 hrs away) so i ended up going ahead and doing my own Tri on a course I had been using for practice near a local lake (using my friend's bike).

I also ended up borrowing my friend's bike to race in a local Time Trial with only my Tri training I was able to place 39th out of 90ish. Over all it was a sweet experience and it was enough to get me hooked. I'll be moving back to the states after New Years and am excited to have a real tri season this year (however... with that move and another move in March/April it will still be an interesting season).

On that note, I am also really "gearing up" trying to get together some of my own gear, specifically a bike. If anyone has a lead on a decent used bike for around $600 (or preferably less) that would be awesome (I need a 56cm in most brands). I'll be in NC for the first few months of the year so either local or willing to ship would be good.

I also want to thank the community for all the great info here. It really helped me figure things out my first "season" and got me off on the right foot