Originally Posted by
jefnvk
Yeah, I know everyone has a different ick factor. That doesn't personally bother me, so long as I've got clean undies every morning! My point was simply if you choose the proper underwear, it is possible to do it comfortably. To each their own, though.
To answer your question about "proper" shorts, until I am riding for a couple hours, I don't really see much of a benefit in padding. I generally ride with them regardless, but sometimes just grab gym shorts. Really, my MTB shorts with their compression liner aren't much different than gym shorts and compression underwear, if you don't need the padding.
Everybody has there own individual quirks. I have a friend who never washes his cycling gloves. I only discovered this when I remarked that his gloves were looking rather dirty and suggested he wash them. He said, "wash them"?" With a surprised tone. Yes, I said, just rwash in the sink with some mild detergent, or throw them in the wash with your shorts. That was over a year ago and from the look of things, he still hasn't washed them.
As for the benefit of shorts, I can ride without them but even on rides of 45 minutes or an hour, I still notice a difference, so I just wear shorts for any ride longer than 15 minutes, which is pretty much all my rides.