Someone talk to me about booty cream and new shorts

I would go without any chamois cream at first.  See how it goes.  If you start to notice any discomfort in any areas after riding for a certain amount of time, it'd be a good idea to apply some cream to those areas pre-ride.  You might be fine on most shorter rides.

For me, I could ride 20-30 miles every day without a problem, but when I get above 30 miles, I definitely benefit from using some chamois cream.

Ohhh... so the cream's not to condition the shorts/keep them from falling apart? It's just to keep your junk from getting messed up? Like putting on BodyGlide for running? (which I've never had to do-- I must have really resilient skin-- rain, snow, salty sweat, etc., I've never had a chafing issue.)  I thought it was like to prime the shorts or something. Cool. I'll see how it goes au natural.

Not with a synthetic chamois.  I believe that you do have to put some on for a natural chamois, but I'm not sure if they even make them anymore.  Mostly the chamois cream or body glide is to help prevent chafing.  If you aren't having chafing, you are very lucky and probably won't need to worry about it. 

Um, yeah... no thanks. I would never want to find out the hard way that I should have lubed up. Having chafed badly one time, I'd rather use the stuff and never really need it than need it and find out too late.

I did 90 minutes in the saddle today... probably my lifetime longest (I've had one or two hourlong spin classes inch into the 70-80 minute range, but at least then you get a break on the bum with coming out of the saddle, which I am noticing you can't do on the trainer, unless I just wasn't figuring out how...)

My nards are just plum peachy. The heels of my hands, on the otherwise, are chaffed to all heck. Maybe I should put the bootycream on my hands, or just figure out how to hold on right...

Or buy gloves.  

I also realized I made my post about my workout in the wrong forum. Woops! If any of you have the time or inclination to weight in:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=256196&posts=1&start=1

And, COSkiGirl- I was thinking of getting gloves, but then I was thinking I wouldn't use them in a race so I should figure out a gloveless work-around. But, I guess I'm not going to be riding 1.5 hours in a race near-term, either, so there's no issue with being comfortable on training rides.