The amount of energy being saved by just skipping all of the breaking bumps is huge. Eli is an absolute beast with ungodly levels of fitness so he can smash through the bumps for 30 minutes straight no problem, but its definitely faster to just skip over all of those bumps. Jett only touches the ground 3 times.
Theres not really a coined phrase for it yet like the “bubba scrub” but what jett is doing is revolutionary. Just like how the greats before him changed the sport with the new things they added to the sport and pushed the sport to new levels, jett is definitely doing that now. The real greats of the sport not only won a lot of races and championships, but they also changed the sport forever.
Mcgrath introduced soaking up the jumps bmx style to supercross, carmichael introduced olympic level fitness being a baseline requirement to compete in sx/mx, stewart introduced the bubba scrub as well as combining jumps that no one else saw to create unique rythmns, quads, wall jump…etc, dungey introduced big picture racing where not only do you need to be tier 1 speed but also extremely consistent, and you dont need to win every race, but you cant have a bad race, webb introduced A1 level race craft where even when your not the fastest guy your race craft is as important if not more important than outright speed…etc.
Stew disagrees with you. He was commenting during the first moto this weekend that skipping around like Jett does for sure saves energy but isn’t faster. He was pointing this out as one of his issues as to why he couldn’t close the gap to AP and Eli
I agree completely as I noticed this too.
I don’t think it is any faster, it’s just a different style. ET3’s style could be argued that the rear tire is on the ground more allowing for further drive forward.
Another thing to add is this style isn’t revolutionary at all, a ton of riders have been skipping and hopping all sorts of bumps since the beginning depending on their riding style. Jett may do it better, but it isn’t new.
Depends on the individual section from what I’ve seen so far. It’s also worth noting that neither rider has dialed their chassis/suspension setup at this time. It’s typically a toss up on who’s technique and lines are faster. With that said, Eli’s style is more susceptible to error given how close he is to the edge both figuratively and literally. Jett’s consistency is lethal. Even If Jett is slightly slower in individual sections at times, his ability to replicate those lines for 35mins straight is crazy.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
This is so cool to watch.
There are plenty of earlier examples, but if you think what Jett is doing with breaking bumps is revolutionary, have a look at this guy called "Ken Roczen", he's pretty good too. He was really good during the 2016 outdoor season.
Jett has been watching Stefan Everst's training videos from about 14 years ago.
https://youtu.be/ZVUksjfEaF8?t=175
I don’t think this element of Jett’s style is new at all. Even Kenny when winning on Suzuki seemed skip around or hop over most of the bumps. Dungey was pretty good at that too. To me, how Jett keeps his upper body so stable does standout. His head looks like its on some gyro stabilized platform as it never moves.
Jett is half chicken, you see that neck?
Dude could wear 5 neck braces and they wouldn't bother him.
There is a fancy word for this. It’s called jumping.
Paul Parabinos (sp?) said he “hover boards around the track” and I thought that was very accurate.
This is what separates Herlings from all the rest on a gnarly sand track.
It’s not always faster 100% of the times, but it’s more efficient and by doing it you set your self up for a different state of mind for the 85-90% it actually is faster.
Look at it in the same way Webb jumped whoops a couple of years ago. It was not always faster (clearly) but when it was, nobody could touch him.
I do the same type of riding in the woods when it’s much stones. Use one to jump over a couple of others. You become more relaxed and turn something depressing in to something fun instead.
And when the day comes when you race someone with the same speed and stamina, and you waste less energy than your opponent you will win.
I have stated before and I will old on to it that you won’t beat a rider like Jett over time by wasting more energy than him.
Thats funny you say that. Literally just last week I saw a pic of Jett, maybe it was an interview, and I said famn he's got a long neck
Obviously other people have jumped bumps before, just like other people had scrubbed before, and other people had trained really hard before too. What jett, bubba, rc…etc did is take that thing and bring it to the next level and make it so people have to make it a part of their game going forward in order to be champion. People jumped bumps since the beginning of mx history, but jett is bringing it to the next level where its an integral part of his riding and he is doing it around the entire track, every single lap, up every hill, across every acceleration bump, and every breaking bump.
McGrath was also good at that. The video comparison reminded me of LaRocco and McGrath in the mid 90's.
Agreed. To say his technique is revolutionary is a stretch. Has he really advanced and perfected modern technique? For sure. Its always very cool when he finds a braking bump half way up a hill or a more rolling jump face that he'll use to prejump. His technique is actually beautiful to me. Everyone points to Jett and Chase as having to best technique and they look very different to me. Can someone smarter than me point out the main differences in how they ride?
*braking
Pit Row
Yes, this. He's advancing it to new level. Just technique in general. I wouldn't go so far as to give Jett all the credit but with his emergence as such a force I see so many young riders at the practice track with amazing technique and form. Its very cool. I just remember when we were all kids, and I'm old AF lol, we were all wild and just trying to go WFO. These young riders of course are fast but their form is so good and theyre setting themselves up to be such great riders in the future
Though the way Eli rides, it does look like he's trying to break the bumps.
I agree with this. Watching them back to back in that section, Eli looks like he's unweighting the bike through the bumps letting the bike "float" underneath him while the bike does the work and naturally slows down for the corner. For Jett, he is jumping the bumps and while he saves some energy in the air, it looks like a decent energy spike to land in that compression with that much speed while on the brakes to make the corner. You could argue that letting the bike float and using the bumps to naturally slow you down takes less energy than the compression/braking zone Jett jumps into. In this one section, it looks like Jett's style would be faster over 1 lap, while Eli's style would be more sustainable over 30+2 although a fraction slower.
I find Eli to be similar to RV in that they make you feel sorry for the track lol. They're punishing it like they're mad at it. Jett is doing a ballet with the track.
Roczen always did this. It's not new. Go back and watch Roczen at Millville on RCH.
Energy is energy, the bike doesn't magically take off and land over the braking bumps he has to use energy to preload the bike off that bump and when landing. To me it looks like he just prefers to use his energy that way where Eli prefers to let the bike dance through it and start setting up for the corner.
Jett has to go preload/jump/land/brake then turn
Eli is soaking up braking bumps/braking then turn
Jett is on a different level with his technicality on a bike. Yes, people have jumped bumps before, no shit! He's definitely advanced the technique a bit more though.
It's incredibly satisfying to watch 2 riders with 2 completely different styles compete. I want more Fox Moto 2s...
We were standing right there. It was cool looking. But he was messing up the turn after if half the laps and not gaining any time on AP/Tomac through the section. He also stopped doing it most laps as the race wore on.
It was cool looking though and smooth when he did it just right. He stands way later into turns than Tomac does .
You seem to forget, Eli used to jump bumps all time, especially on his 250 and early years on 450.. i.e. his domination that year before injury he was hop, skipping and jumping braking bumps all over place. Now he like DGAF and just plows them.
Jett has waaay more tools in his toolbox than pretty much any rider I've ever seen not named James Stewart. His hopping and skipping isn't faster but it conserves a lot of energy when he is pacing the field and helps a lot in the rare instance he gets any pressure. Eli just wants to murder the track and is fit enough to do so. My god did you see how fresh he looked walking up to the podium after moto 1?
True but there is a way to make it work in your favor as Jet shows us. I'll bet most of the time he expends less energy doing what he does hopping over vs absorbing the bumps and hanging on while trying to set up the turn.
Christophe Pourcel was another one that had a soft riding unique way of riding tracks.
Post a reply to: Jett vs Eli braking bumps