Pulled out an older pair of bike shorts today (Primal) to see how they worked out. After all, I've change a number of things since I last tried them last (saddle, saddle position, etc).

Did 16 miles and then the usual sitting around for several hours before going home.

After the initial ride, the padding - whatever it is they use - was definitely much drier. It was warmer than usual riding home and I had a couple stops to make. After the second stop (about 40 minutes, mostly sitting), I was getting the usual irritation on my butt. Once home, I found that part of the padding was a little damp, though not as much as my other shorts.

Other than that comparison, these shorts were a bit more problematic in other ways. I got a little irritation on my inner thighs - whether because of the padding design or because the legband isn't snug, I don't know.

Maybe my next ride I'll try my triathlon shorts since they have a different padding material and not a lot of it. They were my best solution before finding the Blackbottoms.