Originally Posted by gauvins

What do you wear on long distance tours? Padded bottoms? Regular ones? Lycra or loose fitting?

I've been riding wearing stretched long or shorts pants depending on the weather, sometimes padded but more often not (including unpadded centuries, without any sign of chafing). But never long enough to conclude that one type is better or that another should be avoided. I would tend to think that on long tours, padding becomes less of an issue as your butt learns to cope with the saddle and that washing an unpadded short is easier. But the reality could be the opposite -- on long tours padding might become more important than ever and drying overnight not being an issue.