So, here are some pics of my lace job. It worked for a couple of years, but has done as much as it can. The saddle still looks OK by itself, but when I sit on it the whole left side sinks way lower than the right. The leather is too stretched out for even lacing, and the adjustment screw is pretty useless.

If you do lace: I used waxed shoelaces. The hardest part is keeping tension while you tie the final knot. I suggest holding the sides of the saddles in with a large clamp while you are lacing, and then release afterwards. makes it much easier to modulate the amount of tension.

And, I found that a drill makes a MUCH cleaner hole than an awl.

Also, as you can see, I also laminated a piece of high-density rubber foam onto the bottom for extra support. This really helped firm up the leather for a while, but was still yielding. I used a piece of one of those interlocking rubber floor mats from Target, backed with some leather-safe glue.

These fixes definitely gave it a longer lifetime, but I am SO much happier with my new Brooks. Plus, i don't feel like I'm falling to the left anymore. I like Velo Orange stuff, but the saddles...not again.