Thanks for all the nice comments and encouragement everyone! DH and I have been riding every day this week and have so far logged nearly sixty miles. Yesterday was the first ride in the new cycling shorts - what a difference!! The only thing that stopped me was the sun going down and the park trail closing!! We managed to get in a 16.5 mile ride and I managed to get some decent sprints - built up to 18.5 mph - not bad for an overweight chick on a hybrid!! I wish I had cycling shorts before! DH dusted off his old Nike bike shorts and said he had a better ride also. And you are right, I was so comfortable I didn’t care how I looked - I FELT so much better!! Actually DH said I looked pretty good too - I will order another pair when I feel these getting too big for me. One splurge that DH got me yesterday at our LBS was a pair of Sock Guy socks - they are very comfortable too and I found out that 50% of the purchase price went to an organization that purchases bikes for the folks in Zambia, so YAY! It was for a good cause too, not just making my feet happy! We are going out again today on the Pinellas Trail since the rest of the week will be crappy due to Hurricane Ike. Got to log those miles when we can!!