Hey Ulter,
Newbie perspective: First time around I played around with some low dose Stanosus bought at triple price from the local gym, because I was concerned about sides, and all the other nasty things that I've always heard about AAS.
Finished up with the winny, and got nothing in return for the cost and time put into it. Frustration setting in at this point, so I decided to do some homework and found this board. Thanks to you guys I then learned about what really to expect from sides, the mail order biz, generally why an effective cycle must kill your hpta, what to take to recover, etc.
So in a dry-run sense, I consider picking up this info my first cycle. And now that's what this newbie suggests to anybody considering AAS. Find a great resource like this board, absorb a lot of info, and armed with this knowledge, make an intelligent decision about your "second" cycle. For me it was dbol, test, eq. And I'm still learning.