To all who were nice enough to think about my original question about handle bar widths,
I'm intrigued by Don Gillies' elegantly simple hypothesis that since one breathes chiefly through downward expansion of the diaphram, therefore bar width should not be crucial to breathing efficiency. Of course elegant simplicity is not the same as the right answer, but it is often an arrow in the analytical wilderness about where to start looking, especially if it is capable of empirical testing, which his hypothesis seems to be.
I am also very curious to see (or better yet read critically summarized by a keen mind) the research that allegely refutes Don's reasoning--the research that shows that wide bars significantly improve breathing efficiency. It may well be bullet proof, but much research that has appeared bullet proof has subsequently be eclipsed by more coherent, persuasive research.
I'm not one to accept hypotheses, like Don's is so far, that have not been tested under controlled circumstances.
At the same time, I am not one to accept reputable, published research until I understand the assumptions and conclude they make sense, verify methodological validity (especially the statistics), and clarify that using the research findings to refute a hypothesis like Don's is not extrapolating inappropriately beyond the data set of the research.
Because of the dubiousness of some assumptions in scientific research projects, the often sloppy use of statistical analysis by scholars and technicians in such research, and the sometimes absurd parsing of data sets and problem definitions to skew results toward desired outcomes (i.e., toward outcomes that enhance the ability of the researcher to get more grants or contracts), I am greatful not to be doing analytical research anymore...and yet I am a recovering analyst and so I am hopelessly attracted to debates such as this. :-)
It could be interesting for someone to take a critical gander at the research that was done...and at who funded it, of course. I am on the analytical wagon presently and so am not the best qualified for the job, lest I fall off. :-)
Don Wilson Los Olivos, CA USA
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