On a recommendation by Ian B., I recently stopped by Rage Cycles to see if they had any women's padded shorts...they didn't in my size but the guy was very helpful in pointing me to another place that might. I was impressed with that level of trying to help me out.
I went to Papago for a ride the next day, and afterwards I dropped off my bike at their shop for a nice tune up. They are really nice! They don't seem to mind that I'm just starting out. One of the guys came out to take the bike off my car rack, and answered a couple of "newbie" questions for me ("is this helmet okay?" "is the bike on the rack correctly?"). What a relief -- no snooty attitudes! Other bike shops don't seem to get that everyone -- no matter how good they may be on a bike now -- had to start somewhere. I really like this place -- Rage Cycles is now my bike shop!!