For any ride under 15 miles the bike shorts are over kill. My commute is normally 10 miles round trip, but even if I have to stop by the new office that was added it adds only an extra 4 miles each way. . Therefore I am not spending any serious continuous length of time on the bike. Regular athletic shorts work just fineI find that on the longer say 20 mile rides, the extra comfort from the bike shorts is noticable. I have a set of Canari Jell shorts that I bought at a local Dicks Sporting goods store for $38 and they work very nicely. I usually find that during the first hour my find may get a little sore, but after a while you just get into a zone and the body appears to get used to the ride. Last time I rode 24 miles with only one quick 4 minutes stop to releive myself and refill my water bottle with cool water from the water fountain. At the end of the ride my body felt very good. My lungs were complaining a bit, but it was the one of the hottest and muggiest days of the year and I later found out there was also a high ozon warning... not ideal breathing weather. The ride was none the less a real pleasure, and it was nice NOT to have a sore rear end.

Happy riding,
André