After having ridden for about 8 months now, I have discovered that all the spandex I bought (convinced that I did not want it so tight that I couldn't breathe) is the wrong size. Make sure you take time to try on different sizes and styles if you have shops around.

Recommendations...

buy one pair of shorts and see what you think of the fit - I've decided the sugar shorts by pearl izumi are my favorites because they are some of the shorter ones available, but others like them to be long...

gloves - and plan on going through a pair during training because the padding does wear down

wicking sports bras and tops (pockets are good) - especially if you are doing a ride where you are on and off your bike and need to carry things around - daskin now has a line at Wal-mart with wicking material (this summer some of the tops had pockets)

still wear my target sunglasses, but plan on buying a pair with changeable lenses for when I ride later in the day (since I attach my mirror to them)

basic repair stuff mentioned by others

pump (and test out how easy it is to use) no one ever explained the need to pump ones tires OFTEN. think I was around 750 miles when someone asked if wanted to pump my tires before riding one morning - after looking at them and responding "no, there seems to be air in them..." it was explained that you should pump your tires every time you ride because they always lose air (some do this every few rides or so many miles...) it was amazing the difference it made to have full tires - felt like I was on a whole new bike and my average speed increased