Originally Posted by edelay

Welcome to the fold.

- as others have said, hold off on the purchases for a bit, since some of this will just be your body needing to adjust over the next few weeks. After that break in period, you can focus on making changes that are required for whatever discomfort still persists
- the sore sit bones are just part of toughening up your butt. Just like breaking in new leather shoes/boats, you are to a large extent breaking in your feet.
- if you are female, consider getting a female specific saddle. Saddles without mention of gender will be for men.
- if you go over a rough spot or a bump, push down with your legs to take the weight off your bum or even raise your bum off of the saddle for bad bumps. Your legs will act as shock absorbers. Also bend your arms at the elbows to absorb the shock to your arms/hands
- resist getting gel saddle. The most comfortable saddle I've had is a leather one but the cost is breaking it in. See below.
- wear padded cycling shorts, even if it is under normal shorts. This will help prevent butt soreness. No underwear under the padded shorts.
- padded palm bicycle gloves will help absorb road vibration
- ergonomic grips will help with any hand/write pain and numbness. I've had to switch to these in the last few years
- I ride Big Apples on one of my bikes, but just running your existing tires at a lower pressure would achieve the same effect of a softer ride with less vibration. To get the proper width, just bring the bike with you to the shop if/when you make an order

If you do consider getting a leather saddle, just for kicks here is my experience breaking a Brooks B17 Special. Each day had two rides of 10km for about 30 minutes as part of a commute to and from work. As you can see I found that a leather saddle was way more uncomfortable that a padded vinyl saddle before it is broken in. After breaking it, the leather saddle is more comfortable.

day 1: so slippery almost fell off
day 2: sit bones hurt so much that almost didn't ride, slipperiness gone
day 3: sit bones hurt less but still ache
day 4: mild irritation at first but gone by end of ride.
day 5: less irritation, not ideal but not really an issue
* two days off bike. Adjusted seat to flat and raised post a bit*
day 6: no pain or irritation, but seat feels hard. Need to raise seat more
day 7: minor discomfort
day 8: minor discomfort
day 9: minor discomfort
day 10: didn't notice saddle for first time today
*two days off bike. Increased seat post height
day 11: saddle feels hard, otherwise no pain or discomfort
after a few months saddle went from feeling like a piece of wood sculpted to the shape of my butt (which was comfortable but hard) to being soft.

Let me know if you have any questions.