go ten speed if you do lots of climbing and you can have a 12 small cog. If you run outta gear using a 12 cog, you are flying. Change out the small ring in the front and get a 39 (I think that's the smallest you can get for that crank). cheap, 25 bucks will do it. For the rear, you can get a large 27 teeth gear or slightly larger to climb trees. Back in 87, had a 6 speed and the largest cog out back was a 19 and 42 small ring up front. Youth, I was strong and dumb.
Lots of guys are riding those compact cranks. 50 / 34 for climbing trees. Or you can pick p a new bike pretty cheap here
Fuji Altamira 3.0 Road Bike -- Performance Exclusive - Racing Bikes I know it blows your budget a bit, but those guys always have sales.
They are pretty good. You will like carbon if you have not ridden it.