Back in the old days when I was first learning the craft of cycling, my first coach (a former pro 6-day racer in Europe) had us using this Dutch creme called "Jecovitol." It was made from fish oil. It had a really nice smell because it was heavily perfumed, and it encouraged you to change shorts often because if you used the shorts more than one day, they would begin to smell rancid, like fish oil... the stuff was also quite expensive, around $7 a tube back in the early 1970's. But this is evidently what all the top pros used back then.

But back then, you *had* to use something because the chamois was just that - a piece of soft leather attached to wool shorts. When you washed the shorts, the chamois would turn to cardboard as it dried, so you'd have to really rub out the wrinkles, then apply something, anything, to get the leather soft again.

Once they started making synthetic chamois, you could ride without any lubrication. Unless it started raining. I remember doing races in the rain, and my butt would feel like it was burned raw from the wet synthetic. So anytime it rained, I would apply some cheap vitamin E cream from the local Uberdrugstore.

Oh, and one more thang: Vaseline is not good to put on shorts. It rots the threads.

- L.