The Specialized saddles generally get very good reviews, from what I've seen. Thanks for the input.

Well, I took my Planet Bike ARS saddle (with padded bike shorts on) for a slightly longer and more varied ride today. The weather is ideal. A sixteen mile ride in all. I took the main road to a nearby town - decent paved shoulders, gently rolling woods/farmland terrain - then took the rail trail back. The rail trail is not well-maintained, and gets ATV use, but is in decent shape overall. The further end has more areas of loose gravel, more potholes, and more rocky areas than the end nearer to my home. So, a good overall test for tires, saddle, and me. The tires handled the varied terrain pretty well. The seat and bike shorts combo felt better this time. And I held up as well. If this Planet Bike saddle isn't the best possible answer, it seems like a decent one, at least for now. So I feel more encouraged, both by that and by how I have begun to gain a little more leg strength in just a couple of weeks.

I can say now that the Quick CX 4 is a better bike for the varied terrain than my old Trek 7300 was. I look forward to further adventures with it.

There is another rail trail that begins about eight miles from where I live. It is better-maintained than the nearby one, and much longer (28 miles). I may give that one a try soon. (But not on a weekend - too many ATVs on it then!) Later on, once the summer tourist rush lets up, I'll take my bike to Acadia. It's only a 90 minute drive from where I live.

As far as saddles go, I'm considering one of the Serfas comfort saddles, one of the Specialized saddles (the Power or the Phenom Expert), or the Brooks Flyer. Not yet sure which way I'll go.