While others have commented that the padding is great after a long day of riding, personally, I can't stand the padding after 2 miles of mostly flat terrain. I have 2 pairs of bicycling shorts, one with and one without the built-in baggy shorts on the outside. Whenever I wear either pair, I got hot and sweaty next to the padding. The only way to stop this is to either take the bicycling shorts off or stop bicycling.
After reading a comment online about it, either on BikeForums or elsewhere, I tried synthetic, seamless boxer briefs. I've never had a problem with them yet. Of course, I still haven't gone a very long distance (my longest ride was yesterday at 24.5-25 miles), but I don't see them being a problem. Last year, I went a similar, but slightly shorter distance, wearing bicycling shorts, and among other problems on the second half of my ride, the padding was very uncomfortable. I did have a problem on the second half of yesterday's ride (sore legs), but this had nothing to do with the seamless boxer briefs. Occasionally it will get warm down there, so I'll just stand up and coast for several seconds and everything will be fine for a while longer.
I've thought about trying boxers (to put it briefly--pun intended--my mother always bought briefs, and I've merely continued the pattern). According to Nicodemus's post above, it sounds like I need to look for seamless boxers, as opposed to just any set of boxers. Is this correct?
Timothy Clough