Originally Posted by
Scarbo
You're starting to remind me of Robert S. McNamara. The reason I say this is because I've been watching the new Ken Burns documentary on the history of the Vietnam war. In episode Two, it showed how McNamara demanded all of this empirical data, statistical reports from his top generals in South Vietnam. Unfortunately, what he failed to grasp were the feelings and experiences of the Vietnamese people, at the time, that could have gone a long ways in helping the US in prosecuting the war effort.
Doesn't pay to minimize people's actual experience--especially with regard to things that most likely you'll never in a million years be able to quantify.
PS: Get thee on a Wilier Zero.6 (or comparable machine) and you will FEEL the difference stiffness makes. ;-)
I understand the comparison you're making, but I don't think it is valid. (I watched the first episode yesterday, BTW...very good).
You can experience and describe accurately the mood of a population. Testing has shown that human perception is NOTORIOUSLY unreliable in the area of sports.
And even if I DO go ride a Willier, and I am measurably faster...that in no way impacts the stiffness discussion. Was I faster because of aero properties of the bike? Tires? Wheels? Or simply being more excited helped me put out more power? Or maybe I unconsciously adopted a more aero position on the bike because I THOUGHT the bike was faster, and adjusted my style to suit the bike. Perhaps I was faster on the Willier, in SPITE OF the stiffness working to slow me down.
Frankly, nobody knows, you, other on the forum, myself, and some much more informed people in the industry included.