Originally Posted by RSWingman

By all means, thanks for all the input.
I'd just like to share a little lament - maybe find some commiseration:

I've been becoming frustrated with the amount of money & gear I've been pouring into my riding, and all the extra steps that have been steadily getting added to my riding checklist and I fear of my hobby becoming too much of a chore.
Gotta have the pepper spray & holster ($15ish) for the dog that attacked me twice & bit me once,
I now have my ergo-handlegrips ($8) to complement the strategically padded half-finger gloves ($25) for my ulnar nerve.
Also have a pair of "windshell" gloves ($30) for the colder days.
I bought a $35 pair of riding shoes (who can pass that up?). I like them actually, but...
I had to buy a $25 pair of studded pedals that would interface decently with them.
There are the road tires that I gladly swapped in for the knobbies and have had since last year - $50 and over 1000 miles on them.
I got a new bottle, as the original had a crack,
And then yes, there is the fat memory-foam seat ($24), on which I just end up using the front portion. I certainly don't want to pay what the bike-shop is gonna want. If I replace it, it'll have to be something available at Wal-mart. Prefer with a cutout.
And if a seat don't solve my problems, then I'll have to buy some more stuff to deal with that. And yes, that's what I came here asking about. But ya feel me?

This all started with just wanting to get on my bike & go and all I wanna do is simplify. What happened, man? I've got goals this year: Came from 125 (130 last year), 195ish now, wanna make 150ish by year's end.