Yeah - I was talking about how much it hurt to shoulder the bike (I have no natural padding on my shoulders so it feels like the darn bike grinds right on my bones!) and one of my team mates said *don't* pad the bike. She said you bruise up and it hurts the first couple of times, but then you get used to it (kind of like breaking your butt into a saddle). If you pad then you never get used to it and you always have a low level of bruising/painfulness.