If you get in to your photography you’ll soon want a dSLR (mainly for the interchanglable lenses), but photography is even more expensive than mountain biking! That’s the reason why I bought a compact.. So I can’t spend £1000’s on lenses.
Try some camera’s at a local camera shop. There is no point in buying a camera if you don’t feel comfortable with it.
Think about what you will be photographing, Landscapes, fast action shots, etc.. Fast action shots, then you will probably want a dSLR, as they can shoot shots in bursts 3.5 frames a second (or something). If you want to shoot landscapes, then you will probably want one with a wide lens.
DPReview[/url] is a great site for reviews of camera’s.