Come on, when was the last time you heard a chick say that she was looking for a guy who’s “short, scrawny, and cute”??
I’m 6’4" and damn happy about it.
I’m no professor of exercise physiology, I just train with one who’s fairly quick (sub 5:00 at WF last Sat) so while there may be a ratio for femur/tibia length as it relates to potential wattage output I don’t know what it is. That being said, people with longer levers THEORETICALLY can produce more power due to increased leverage. Recall from physics that force is mass times acceleration, F=MA so it would reason that if you can increase the mass you can theoretically increase the force that one would be able to apply. Theoretically speaking, more force would result in greater velocities. If you know anyone with an SRM PowerMeter setup I believe they will verify this.
Think about the length of your crankarms. Sure 177.5’s give you more leverage than 175’s (the size that is OEM spec’ed on most large frame sizes) but you almost never see people (even jolly green giants) riding them because any benefit from that increased leverage is negated UNLESS one is strong enough to turn them…which few of us are.
On the upside, I flew to Brazil in October and was MUCH more comfortable than the very tall gentleman who was seated across the aisle from me. Also, I agree with a previous poster: short, dark, and handsome is NOT what you hear women say is what they want from a blind date (ladies, please comment)…although if given the option I’d rather be, ahem, “vertically challenged” cute & fit than tall, fat, and unhealthy 
Miguel in the 'No (Today’s high was 98)
… with the exception of Greg Welch, no short person has ever won Ironman as it becomes an issue of one’s power to weight ratio. Fitness levels being equal, the taller people usually win …
How about heat tolerance??? You don’t see very many LARGE mammals in the desert (camels being the exception), and the LARGE ones on the savannah don’t move very fast.
Just a thought from your local gecko (small, stubby, not too fast, but really can stick to a task)
Ha! V-shaped freak? I kinda like that. Of course, I’m sitting at a 41" chest and 31" waist, so I probably fall into that category (wrestling, not power lifting, though). Of course, the whole pro/con-clydesdale arguement always ticks me off: I’m 6’3" and 165 lbs. I don’t qualify for clydes, but I’m taller almost everyone in the “normal” category. Basically, I’m a really big sail on a bike, I don’t have any of that “natural buoyancy” that the clydes usually have in the water, and wetsuits are generally incredibly very uncomfortable in the “lower” areas.
And don’t get me started on the automobile industry and how the only cars that I fit into are way out of the price range of the average human! Slide the seat all the way back and your knees are still hitting the stearing wheel!
im 6’1" 163-165 where do i fall into this arguement? I was lucky enough to be born with ligaments and tendons that are not as elastic as normal ones (due to a connective tissue abnormality, nothing big, it just causes this and a valve problem), so if i even dream about running two days in a row i wake up injured.
I’m 5’10" and sub-140lb. Love the hills but hate those headwinds! And at least I’m never in adnger of snapping anything on the bike either…