I'm in Southern California. No worries. I think I am going to work on messing with the bars and stem and see if I can relieve some of the pain. I felt a little better on Friday's ride home but my fingers went numb. Gonna see what I can do to remedy that with what I have for now. Thanks for the offer though.

Reporting in to say that lowering the stem helped! Even though it was only about 1/4", evidently that was enough of a drop to take pressure off my sit bones. While they still hurt, I could still manage to stay in the saddle for 50ish miles. I might drop it another tiny bit, we'll see.

As others have pointed out, padded saddles are the absolute worst - as well as any saddle with a fuzzy fabric or any surface other than absolutely smooth.

A good leather saddle is the best. Better yet, in my opinion, is a leather saddle with springs.

Yes, Brooks makes an excellent saddle, but there are other leather saddle makers like Lepper of Holland, etc. The problem, of course, is that as the value of the dollar falls, these beautiful European leather saddles are getting a lot more expensive.

You can also keep your eyes open for used leather saddles. A lot of the old leather saddles I have seen have most of the life weathered out of them, so the old saying "buy cheap = buy twice" still stands.

The good thing about buying a good leather saddle is that you can transfer it to your next bike. A good leather saddle will literally last your lifetime as long as you take care of it and don't leave it outside.

A note on leather saddles - all of them are better than just about any synthetic saddle.

However, Brooks, Lepper, and other high-end saddle makers use high quality leather from the neck of the cowskin hide.

I have seen, bought, and used Chinese leather saddles. They are often made of pigskin or some kind of leather composite. They are cheap and "interesting", but they do not hold up for very long as the leather quickly starts to sag and eventually tear.

My sister bought a gorgeous Brooks leather women's saddle some years ago when money was very tight for her. She was going to be spending a lot of time on her bicycle, so she made the investment. That saddle was and still is very precious to her. Still, she never thought twice about the money after she got the saddle.

Personally, I think that it might be a wise idea to spend more money on the saddle and less on the bike... After all, it is what connects you to the bicycle. If you invest in the areas where you contact your bicycle: ie a good saddle, comfortable handle grips, and good quality pedals, your riding experience will be exponentially better.

I dropped the stem 3mm and rolled the bars a little more forward. I moved the controls further in a little, it felt like the outside of the palm of my hand was just off the bar before. It felt OK for the 5 mile ride to work. More will be revealed on the 11 mile ride home.

I noticed that now that I am leaning a little more forward that my quads get a little more tired than before. Maybe position or maybe I am just using them a little more trying to keep weight off the saddle.

From Sheldon Brown:
. A saddle is intended to carry some, but not all of your weight. The rest of your weight is mainly carried by your legs, and some by your hands and arms.A cyclist who is out of cycling shape from being off a bicycle for a few months or more, will start out strong, but the legs will tire rapidly. When the legs tire, the rider sits harder on the saddle, and that's when the trouble starts. Many saddle complaints are actually traceable to fatigue caused by starting out the season with a longer ride than you are ready for.

https://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html

Ya, I am more of the thinking that all this time I have been too relaxed and sitting on the saddle too much. Now that I put myself in a more aggressive position, i.e. leaning forward a little more that I am now taking weight off my butt and putting it in my legs. If that is the case then it is just a matter of a little conditioning of the quads and I should be good to go. Still looking into a Brooks though.

I would like to fit a B-17 to my commute bike but I can't because the seatpost is some propriatary design (by KORE) which mounts to a hard as a rock (KORE) plastic saddle (the bike is a DaHon Curve SL).

Luckily my commute (the bike part) is only 16 miles per day (RT) so the pain is tolerable (just), and I guess I should say that for a hard-as-a-(plastic)-rock saddle, it's really not too bad. Sure wouldn't want to ride it on a century though.

Rick / OCRR