Mountain Bike Gloves?

I don't know much about gloves, since the pair I have came used and are older than I am. Unfortunately, they most definitely were not able to cushion the ride yesterday. Is there a lot of difference between older and newer gloves? Or road versus mountain cycling gloves?

I don't have a front suspension, so I'm wondering if gloves would help the tenderness I feel this morning or if I just need to toughen up my palms.

Old or new, some gloves have more padding than others. Not everyone uses a heavily padded glove. I'd go to a local shop if I were you and try some on. My full-fingered mountain bike gloves aren't terribly different from my full-fingered road gloves in terms of padding. They do have some extra bits of material on the index finger though for extra grip and durability. I was taught to ride with my index fingers resting on my brakes at all times, so I like that extra bit of material. I'd otherwise wear a hole in the glove pretty fast.

As for riding a rigid mtb, I can't give you insight there as I my mtb have front suspension. You likely will have to toughen up a bit, change your grips and/or work on keeping your upper body relaxed (but not too relaxed) so that you can better absorb some of the impacts.

I have to use cushier grips on my rigid singlespeed. No glove is, IMO, going to have enough padding to make a difference. Too much padding can make things worse (also IMO). It's also a technique thing, like Indy pointed out.

I wear different gloves MTBing because I prefer full-finger gloves, not because the padding is different/better. In fact, my full-finger MTB gloves actually get called upon for road duty in the fall, before it gets cold enough for insulated gloves.

I'll stick to my road gloves, then. Should have known it was user error! :)