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Joined
1/29/2023
Location
Grants Pass, OR, USA
Edited Date/Time
5/14/2023 8:51pm
Just got back from Salt Lake City for the Supercross and I started thinking about that video that showed how stiff Eli runs his rear shock. Motocross riders use their legs a lot to absorb the forces of jumps and if his suspension is that stiff, I wonder if this could have contributed to his ruptured Achilles Tendon. I wonder if he runs it stiffer than other riders.
That’s damping
well i mean. its not a bypass damper off a rally car that's gonna blow through the travel at high shaft speed. he's got a point here.
i do wonder what the force curve looks like compared to a moto gp damper
Holy shit you've cracked the case. You should let Tomac know.
Yes.
It also contributed to all his wins.
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People need to stop putting carrots in their ears!
It's Steve's fat arse shock that did it
Well! maybe it's a stupid question, but we were in the pits and they had his bike on display and it got me thinking about that video showing how rigid the rear shock was. I think I've solved this case and yes, if I ever run into him somewhere, I'm going to discuss his improper bike set up and him forgetting to tighten his boot latches that contributed to his ruptured Achilles tendon. I kind of feel like Sherlock Holmes now and realize that all these people saying Chase Sexton was gifted this SX Championship are wrong. When I look at the photo below, I find Eli Tomac's riding position troubling and if I was his riding coach I would completely change his bike set up and riding style to prevent these types of injuries in the future.
Shit happens. I broke my tallus over jumping and coming down hard on my foot. Time to move on. Is it not obvious from the video that he torqued the loving shit out of his ankle?
Once he gets in contact with you, he'll be racing into his 40's im sure.
No.
What do you think would happen to his tendon if instead of being stiff he ran it softer and had his suspension blow through the stroke and come to a sudden stop as it bottomed out? What do you think is harder on tendons, a steady ramp up in force or a sudden jolt from bottoming out?
He could also choose to just roll all the jumps. That would definitely prevent injuries like these. If you run into Eli, please tell him to run his suspension softer, and I'll tell him to roll all the jumps. Between us two we'll have him racing well into his 60s.
I think you’ve found your niche. A detective at heart. Sherlock.
Achilles are usually just freak injuries. A good friend of mine was just out for a night of dancing and her Achilles ruptured and tore from just dancing. Another good friends just popped after stepping off sidewalk. Random they both happened the week before Denver supercross. Maybe it’s the Colorado air! They are just weird freak injuries. Shit happens unfortunately.
Well, I haven't heard of many instances of ruptured Achilles tendons in Supercross and that video made it look like his rear suspension was extra stiff, so I was just thinking that could be a contributing factor. There was another video floating around about James Stewarts ultra stiff suspension was one of the reasons he crashed a lot. Anyways! it could have happened no matter what his suspension was set at I guess, but I was just wondering if anyone else thinks that might have had something to do with it.
You had to know when you posted this that you were going to get flamed lol. His achilles may have just been a ticking time bomb that chose the most inopportune time to fail. It was a shitty end to a great season for ET3. I hate to see him go out like this but if he chooses to call it a career It would be totally understandable.
James Stewart addressed this in his recent video but it sounded like he pointed the finger at suspension being too soft. More traction but blows through the shock very quickly. Take a look at it if you haven’t.
I think it is more likely a combination of the slight over jump, custom softer boot, foot very slightly farther back on peg, and taking it a little casual because he has hit rhythm sections a trillion times……all combined with just a freak bad luck thing.
It was a completely freak deal. Like a chain snapping. Eli said he's jumped into sections and/or faces of jumps harder than that before plenty of times and it's true if you've ever seen him drop the hammer. Before I blamed it on a bike, or whatever else, I'd argue it's a result of the 10-11 months of racing these guys do year after year. They never really get a break unless they are injured and Tomac has a lot of seasons under his belt at the age of 30.
Considering it happens to people doing things like this it's amazing they don't happen more often in sport.
You are most likely 180 degrees to the wrong.
Eli has not been running a stiff suspension this year, just the opposite it has been very soft. When you think about it in those terms the suspension blew through the travel quickly and then the only "give" was in his tendon. Had he been running a stiffer suspension the G load when he bottomed might not have been as severe. Stiffer is going to be a more controlled deceleration and a corresponding slower rebound might have taken up some of the force that went straight to his achilles tendon.
Bottom line soft suspension and fast rebound means the energy has to go somewhere.
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