Never felt the need for a chamois cream, even on 4 to 6 hour road bike trips.

However when we used to do Polaris events we found that after 7 + 5 hours with gritty water in the shorts pad the poor old ricker used to get a bit sore so we started smearing a finger full of Vaseline on it at the start of the day, which prevented soreness. You just had to remember which finger you’d used when you stopped for some dried bananas or a Snickers bar, which were the trail food of the time.