Originally Posted by
GravelMN
I started riding at 300+ pounds and am still in the 230 range at 5' 11". Two of the best pieces of advice I ever got were "If your thighs already rub together, the last thing you need is to wedge a bunch of padding (saddle or thick chamois) between them" and "It's a bike, not a bar stool". I have two Specialized Avatar saddles and one Specialized Toupe, all of which are lightly padded. I frequently ride 20 to 50+ miles in casual clothing, including athletic trunk underwear like I described in my earlier reply. I assure you that, as counterintuitive as it seems, an overly padded saddle is far more likely to cause discomfort than alleviate it, even (possibly especially) for big riders.
This speaks to how individually we are all constituted. FWIW I am 5'11" 175. Some years ago I bought my first serious bike. A Specialized Tarmac with a Toupe seat. I had bicycled a good bit prior to the purchase and knew I preferred some padding in a seat. I wanted to switch the Toupe out for a Sonoma. The shop employee implored me to give the Toupe a try for a week. I think in part because he didn't want to see a Sonoma on a Tarmac. I acquiesced. A week later I was returning the Toupe. I had bruises in my sit bone region and I don't bruise easily. The Sonoma became my favorite seat and I put them on all my bikes. I have recently bought an ISM Century and just the other day a Typhoon and think they will become my favorites.
We are all very different. OP you can try some bicycle padded underwear and wear your gym shorts over them. I have done that before and found it good for rides up to 20 miles or so. I have also worn shorts over my padded riding shorts without issue. There are a number of compression type underwear options that have worked for me in the past. Finding what works for you is a sometimes frustrating process. Two things generally hold constant.
Gel isn't generally good.
It takes time to acclimate.
Hang in there. It gets much better.