Ok couple of questions regarding above commments:

Regarding the butt'r - I have some, never used it and was wondering - do you apply directly to skin or to the short padding? If appied to skin, the obvious would be to avoid the "girly" parts? Where exactly does it get applied and how much?

Regarding the shorts - My absolute favorite pair from last year that I could ride 50 - 80+ miles in - Pearl Izumi's 8 panel (not sure which ones) are suddenly uncomfortable and I'm squirming constantly on the seat after 25 miles. In fact I can't ride in the drops as it's really uncomfortable "down there" and have to sit up. Question - can the padding break down after numerous wearings and also I'm wondering if they are slightly too big due weight loss from last year?!

And is it normal to have to scoot back on the seat quite often when changing bar positions? All this saddle talk is making me wonder if I should have checked out more options when I got the bike last year. Hmmm......