Yeah I noticed early on with my older setups that many things can make the ride more comfortable/smoother.
I run 25c front and back and I feel like its a good mix between a bigger tire and a fast tire. The roads around here are brutal, and as long as you steer clear of the ****** potholes, you should be fine. Riding with padded gloves on the palms helped me a lot. I'm still tweaking saddle/seatpost and stem/bar setups, but try to get one position where most of your weight is on the saddle by adjusting the angle and raising your bars.
I love RB-021 pursuit bars because I have 4 hand positions and can ride comfortably in all but one, and moving hands around helps me.