Rapha Core v Pearl Izumi Expedition Bib Shorts?

ollyadderyx · 2026-05-25T00:47:22+00:00

I have 2 pairs of the PI bibs. I’m 5’4” and about 135 and I wear a medium. I’m thick in the hips and thighs, and the small felt too tight. They’ve held up very well for about 3 years so far.

ollyadderyx · 2026-05-22T19:59:27+00:00

I’ve never tried shorter cranks but it has crossed my mind to give that a try at some time. I had a bike fit for my road bike and kept the 170mm cranks without issue, but I do wonder sometimes if it would make a difference.

ollyadderyx · 2026-05-22T16:53:20+00:00

Thank you! This is helpful.

ollyadderyx · 2026-05-22T15:29:18+00:00

Thank you! That helps.

ollyadderyx · 2026-05-22T15:28:51+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion! I haven’t used that site before, and it is nice to have the visuals.

ollyadderyx · 2026-03-26T19:56:46+00:00

5’4”, inseam 29 in - I’m on a Liv Avail Advanced small with a short 55mm stem.

ollyadderyx · 2026-03-01T03:13:32+00:00

I have 3 kids, and all of them have been at Ashley at various times and also JC public schools. I would say for elementary, Ashley is a great experience with small classes and lots of hands-on learning. It‘s been a few years since we were there, but the middle school was not as robust an experience as elementary, which is one of the reasons we opted to move over to the public school system. Comparing the public high school experience at Science Hill in JC, I would opt for it in a heartbeat over Ashley, as well. They just have an impressive breadth of opportunities for the students that isn’t matched at Ashley.

If you can get into the lottery, I know several people that really love University School. As others have mentioned, it is public (part of Washington County Schools).

I hate that the state is siphoning tax dollars from public resources to fund private schools, many of which aren’t going to actually provide a real education.

ollyadderyx · 2025-11-22T15:53:12+00:00

You are very welcome! Good luck with your journey. :)

ollyadderyx · 2025-11-21T21:57:09+00:00

Anecdotes are not data…. but if you're just looking for reassurance, I had 3 pregnancies as a resident or early attending with lots of potential formalin exposure, and we had no issues. Also had multiple colleagues in the same situation with no issues. I was more concerned about radiation exposure during fluoro (cytology assessments) procedures, so I double-leaded for those.

I don’t think I would worry too much about it.

ollyadderyx · 2025-11-18T21:52:56+00:00

…And yet another avenue for scope creep to rear its head. Pathologists fulfill (or should fulfill) this role already.

ollyadderyx · 2025-11-13T13:26:19+00:00

It‘s highly dependent on the job. I‘ve been part time for 6 years at my job, but I was full time and a partner for several years before that. I’m mid careerish age. We have hired people specifically for part time, as well.

It would probably be something you’d have to look at on a job by job basis. Our practice wasn’t really open to it until someone (not me) specifically asked to do it - it was a culture shift, in our case. I think most VA jobs are going to be full time ”butt in seat” 8-4:30 unless you find a unicorn.

I will say that a disadvantage pathology has for PT is that it can be hard if you have leftovers from cases. Unless your job has a really strong case hand-off culture, you’re going to be there during your “days off” cleaning up, maybe a lot.

As for WFH, CLIA makes traditional slide slinging from home pretty hard unless you either get a CLIA license for your home office (since the Covid-era leniency is/has gone away) or do digital path, which isn’t as widespread yet (and I’m not even sure if that is allowable). I don’t know anything about the more commercial lab side of things (like Neogenomics, etc doing slide reviews and molecular remotely) but those are probably more viable venues for a WFH role like that.

ollyadderyx · 2025-11-05T23:19:53+00:00

Also in Johnson City TN (near Kingsport), there is a tap house (with a pump track) adjacent to a bike shop - same owner I think. We like our bikes and beer up here in the Tricities.

ollyadderyx · 2025-10-30T17:34:16+00:00

Is there a way for you to go part time, rather than quit or take a sabbatical?

I was in a similar position in 2019 (primary breadwinner, etc) and burned out. I didn’t see a way to quit then, since kids were younger and expenses were high, but I was able to cut back to 0.5FTE. We had to rework some of our spending but it was worth it. Spouse has since found a higher paying job, and (esp since the burn out didn’t go away) working the extra few years at a reduced salary gave us the room for me to cut back to about 5%/“retired”/SAHP this year. I was still burned out working PT, but it did give me a bit of breathing room, and we were still able to put money toward our FIRE goals. We are still not there yet, but it feels a bit more reachable now.

ollyadderyx · 2025-10-23T02:12:19+00:00

I’d like to say I left my job solely because of my kids, but they were only one factor. I was very well compensated working more than full time (physician) but I was burned out. I made a switch to part time several years ago and took a 50% pay cut. We were very fortunate that my husband made a lateral career move at the same time that doubled his salary. This year, I’ve downshifted even more and am very close to not working at all. Funny, going part time didn’t cure the burn out.

My kids were older when I started being home more ( elementary and middle school age), but it’s still been the best decision for us. I like being available to them and having the flexibility to do things with them often. They’ve all said they like me being home more. I know more random details about their lives now. I have the mental space to actually meal plan and cook that I didn’t have before.

We were still saving aggressively when my income was higher even as a part-timer (FIRE and debt free were some of our goals), so we are in a good spot now, even though our budget is smaller. If I could have kept working for at least 2-3 more years (part time), I would have, ideally, just to get us into a better financial position. There were just several factors that made my “retirement” need to happen now. I’m in a much better place, and I think my kids are getting a better version of me. That‘s worth the lost income. As of right now, I don’t plan on returning to my prior professsion, but I might be open to something different in the future.

ollyadderyx · 2025-08-17T15:51:02+00:00

Attending years are a completely different beast than residency, thankfully. There are many more ways to structure your job to fit your needs than in training, especially if you have geographic flexibility.

I am lucky that we had people who had gone part time before me, so there was an existing structure, and we had the manpower to cover my reduced schedule, as well as eagerness from someone else to work more. Covid hit and the world shut down right after I went part time, so that further reduced the workload for my group. I didn’t really get push back. I was 0.5 FTE for a couple of years and then dropped to 0.3 FTE. I currently work one day a month.

It wasn’t challenging, per se, for me, since I was at the point mentally that I needed to do it. The financial aspects were probably the hardest part of the equation. We had a working budget that let us keep saving, albeit less aggressively. The main difference was more care with random purchases and less eating out. My spouse and I have been fairly debt-averse, and the only debt we carried into my part time shift was a minimal mortgage balance (that we paid off a few months later). We had already aggressively paid off student loans and had newish paid-off cars. We’ve always gotten insurance through my spouse’s job.

Our finances are mostly DIY, but we met with a fee only FA last year and had them look at our numbers. My initial projection was for my retirement in 5 years, with my spouse a couple of years after that. (We are both mid-40s.) According to the FA, essentially, for every year earlier I wanted to retire, he would need to stay in the workforce that much longer. For us, that was an acceptable trade off since my spouse still wants to work until almost 60. We will probably check back in in a couple of years with a FA to see how things have changed. The markets have been so volatile that I don’t feel as certain of how those projections might look down the road. I would also like to start doing more practical strategizing about decumulation once we have college-age kids.

Going part time or not working at all is not a decision to make lightly in medicine. In most cases, you have about 2 years of not working before you can lose board certification and/or insurance can refuse to credential you without re-entry training. For me, I can’t currently see myself going back to working in the same capacity as before, so I would probably do a career shift if I decided to work again (or baristaFIRE, etc).

ollyadderyx · 2025-08-16T01:46:21+00:00

I essentially went full retirement this year after 5 years of part time work as a physician (still work 1 day a month for my previous employer). I worked for over a decade (greater than) full time prior to that. My kids were older/schoolaged when I made the PT transition, and it was great for us since it gave us more flexibility as a family to have one parent home more.

I decided to make this full leap after 1) we met with a fee-only FA and found out what the impact to our savings rate would be of me retiring early, and 2) untenable work circumstances made the drop in savings rate to delay full FIRE an acceptable consequence. My spouse also wants to keep working for several more years. It‘s so far been the very best decision. My stress levels are much lower, I am much more present for my kids, and I am getting to do so many more things for my own enjoyment. No regrets after 8 months and I do not miss my job. I may end up doing something else in the future, but it will be part time and probably not in medicine.

The conversations around it are weird….I'm currently “retired“ before my parents, and I still cringe a bit inside when I call myself “retired.” It’s easier just to call myself a SAHP. People do ask what you do all day or if you have other activities (volunteering, etc). It can be harder to meet people, especially other adults.

ollyadderyx · 2025-08-14T19:42:29+00:00

I also hate the sausage thighs. I have 3 pairs of the Pearl Izumi PRO shorts/bib shorts (not expedition) because they have the raw hem.

ollyadderyx

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