I finally found a saddle that is comfortable, after putting a lot of thought and analysis into the structure of the female nether region (aka 'the booty').

Previously tested: Terry Butterfly and Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow (too cushy), Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow (too narrow for my sit bones), Specialized Jett 143 mm (ouch on the sit bones), Fizik Arione and Fizik Aliante (too much pressure on tender parts).

I ordered a Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow from Excel Sports in Boulder. The saddle did not work for me (more on that in a sec) but Excel Sports is lightening fast with shipping orders. If you need something that your local bike shop does not carry and you want it sometime before next year, I recommend ordering from Excel Sports if they carry what you are looking for. I ordered by 2 pm MST on a Tuesday and had the saddle in hand on Friday (it was sent by USPS 2-day priority mail). When I mailed it back to them, they credited my account the day after they received the package.

The Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow (pre-2007 version) is an saddle that is fully committed to brutalizing your behind. I sat on it for only a few minutes and did not need any more time to decide to send it back. The saddle drops off sharply on the sides, thus rendering about 50% of the surface area unusable and thus, wasted dead weight on a bicycle. The cut-out in the center is so large that special parts, male or female, would fall down in the gap, and the edges of the cut-out gouge into one's tender parts. I cannot think of a more uncomfortable saddle, other sitting on a 2 by 4 wooden board.

I decided to order two saddles at a time as a new strategy so that I could combine shipping costs and speed up the process. The next order (from a different bike shop) took a week and a half to arrive. I ordered on Sunday, it did not ship until Thursday. I received the WTB Devo Carbon and the WTB Shadow V Stealth.

The Devo showed immediate promise, and while weight is not a factor in my decision, the saddle only weighs 190 grams. The Shadow V, on the other hand, was too narrow. A 30 minute trainer session ruled that saddle out quickly. WTB saddles are not sold by any bike shop in Birmingham so you don't see people here riding on them. They also were originally a mtn bike saddle producer, but now they make some road saddles. One of the common elements of a WTB saddle is something called a "Love Channel", which is a channel that runs down the center of the saddle to allow pressure relief on the tender parts.

I rode on the Devo a couple of times on the road and quickly discovered that I need to use chamois butter with the saddle. (Explanation in a sec.) However, there was little soreness on my sit bones. I decided to order one more saddle to try out, a Terry Zero Y, which is a men's saddle with a cut-out in the center. I have ruled out most women's saddles because they are too wide. If you did not know this, Terry saddles are made by Selle Italia.

I rode three times on the Zero Y and the inside of my sit bones which rest on the edges of the cut-out were getting sore enough that any movement on the seat was very painful, and also I felt like I did not have control over my bike and was unbalanced. Feeling unbalanced seems to result in a decrease in power output.

Specs are something like:
Zero Y: 140 mm W, 177 L
Shadow V: 130 mm W, 175 L
Devo: 140 mm W, 165 L

It has been proven that my booty needs a 140 mm width saddle. Women's saddles tend to be 155 mm and up in width. However, Terry makes one that is 130 mm wide (the Damselfly), which I have not tried.

I put the Devo back on my bike and rode it last night with much joy, because I had complete control over my bike and the saddle felt very natural to me. I thought I required a cut-out because of pressure relief, but that is not really the case. The problem with a saddle with no cut-out is that it allows for more movement of the chamois in the shorts to rub against one's tender parts. The chamois butter mostly alleviates this issue.

Thus, a summary of saddle mechanics:

• Saddles with cut-outs reduce the surface area your booty rests upon, thus increasing pressure on the areas of the booty that are touching the saddle (mainly the sit bones). They also reduce friction between the tender parts and the chamois in bike shorts by "locking in" a section of the chamois into the cut-out in the saddle.
  
• Saddles without cut-outs reduce ischial pressure due to increased surface area, but there is more friction between tender bits and chamois, and possibly more pressure on the front area of one's nether region, depending on the design of the saddle.

The quest for a saddle has taught me that it is the most important component on a bike. You can have a bike worth $15K, but if the saddle is uncomfortable, your riding performance is going to suffer.

Congrats to the Devo for being nice to my booty.