2024 TEAM RUMORS

Voreis is the man. There is zero reason he should be without a frame sponsor just based on his instagram following alone.

So Aletha Terminated the contract after signing it? That seems a bit weird. I get she might have a better deal in her pocket but if she did why not try and get in the offseason? Seems a bit shady to pull out during the deal.

(Any accusations of favorable bias toward a hometown bike brand are fair)

Internal stuff is scarier but it will probably take longer to come back from knee surgery.

Everyone can agree that last fall into early this spring was super nutty bonkers crazy from the standpoint of both racers and sponsors. There were challenges around timing for everyone and yeah it looks a bit weird. But it was a very weird silly season and now it just is what it is. Time to get pumped for '24. Windrock is tomorrow!

(No bias accusations needed. We eat at The Outpost all time. We'll see ya on Unemployment Line.)

A LOT less steezy. Plenty of fast guys and guys with tricks but arguably none do it smoother than those 2. Also no JG course previews?? They should bring him in the booth.

I'll be shocked if Goldstone is back on a bike at a WC this year. 

Next year everyone will be complaining about his bionic knee giving him an advantage. 

Watch the supercross feed tomorrow. 

Aimi Kenyon on Unior

MSA is early october again this year so I think there is a possibility.

There are not a lot of details on the exact surgery, but given his age and that he's a top level athlete... 
-The earliest he may appear is the 1199 DH at Crankworx in late July 
-Or More likely worlds at the very end of August
-Definitely will be back for Loudenvielle in September and MSA in October. 

I'm speculating, but either a MCL or an ACL have multiple months long recovery and that's for basic walking around normally. I'm assuming both is going to compound that since it will be a harder recovery and take longer to regain stability in the knee. I've known lots of people (myself included) who have torn ACL or MCL but I don't think I know anyone who has done both at the same time. It's also a hard injury to maintain any fitness through recovery. 

That said, he is young, top level athlete, and hopefully receiving top notch care. All of that should help him bounce back quicker. Riding a bike is also a little easier to stabilize the knee with a brace because of less lateral loading compared to other sports. 

I hope I'm wrong and he bounces back quickly. 

semi-fit kinda-young healthy weekend warriors may be back  on heir bike riding DH 3-4 months after ACL surgery. been there.. with a knee brace, but not pushing like a pro is required to, so yes you may be back quicker than a football player, but not ready to tackle val di sole at superlumina speeds ; )

I have good news. Andi Kolbs recovery is looking great. He is already training in Maribor. 💪 

This is a long the same lines I was thinking, but I don't know how much doing MCL at the same time complicates things. 

Does it double recovery time, 50% more, none at all? 

There is absolutely no need for him to rush back to competition.
He's already won WC races so his goal is the overall and worlds.
The overall is gone and realistically worlds would be the first race back.
He is so young it's not worth risking a career long injury at this point.
I'd be taking the year off from competition. Do some riding trips and videos to keep the sponsors happy, get 100% recovered and then smash the field next year.

not apples to apples, but you can guesstimate JG's needed recovery time based on it. Interestingly, it mentions most ACL injuries tend to occur in the pre/early season.

"Mean time to return was 316.1 days (range, 220-427 days), or 10.4 months."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32379980/

Ye Olden Days ACL repair guy here.  Snapped it in a gopher hole at Seven Springs National in Dual Slalom.  Has ruined most every other sport for me. 

Brendog rode a season without his and that is a mistake. You chew the crap out of the meniscus inside with tiny little micro tears time after time from the instability.  

Me, I cooked my meniscus in the weeks between the injury and surgery and it's misery to this day.  I have to wear what is called an unloader brace if I go to the gym, mow the grass or hike.  Only thing I can do consistently without pain is mountain bike thanks to the saddle and granny gears.  

Goldstone & Kade need to chill for the year and come back in 2025 or they're going to both risk blowing the other ACL from compensating or causing tons of micro tears in their meniscus trying to get back too fast from rehab. 10 months is when I felt like I could hammer some gears and it not twist internally.

A full year for all the muscles, tendons, ligaments & bones to feel like a single functioning unit again.

Yea 10-12 months is pretty standard for Knee ligament repair healing time, assuming everything goes to plan that is. Surgeons have tried to do shorter healing times in the past with more intense rehab exercises but data has shown that they tend to increase failure rates in the graft repairs. 

The 10-12 month timeline is very well researched and supported for longevity, homeboy is young and has a lot of years ahead of him to come. He just needs to do this right for the first and last time. 

So true. The priority for him should be longevity in the sport as opposed to getting on the bike as soon as possible. 

Gone are the days when a knee ligament injury was almost a death sentence to an athlete's career. However, quite a few pros still could never get back to 100% of their athleticism and explosiveness. I hope Jackson takes his time and gets the best possible medical and rehab help available.

I've heard Brendon mention several times that his ACL tear was a turning point where he felt like he lost that top end race speed and more or less lost the ability to compete for podiums. Definitely seems like something that needs to be managed well or it can be a major hinderance to an athlete's career. 

I’ll take the under. JG doesn’t live in your mundane reality—he will rub some dirt on it and be back smoking everyone in a month. SkinniBruni’s gonna end up whacking his own knee to keep up…

Different sport, but also more knee reliant.

Johnny Collinson, professional free skier blew everything in his knee (ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, fractured tibial plateau, and even patellar tendon I believe) and has made a full comeback. It took ~2 years and he is a fitness freak.

There have been NFL running backs who have been back on the field in 9 months post ACL.

I think a return by the end of the season would be feasible if the rider really wanted it. That said, like others have stated here. I’d take my time and focus on next season.

Jamal Murray (NBA) was out 18 months for an ACL... I'm guessing basketball is probably one of the hardest sports on your knees but still- long recovery no matter what.

There had to have been complications there! Skiers blow knees all the time and standard recovery to full play is 9-12 months

I think some of it was timing- he did it at the end of one season, rehabbed then was trying to rejoin the team during the playoffs at the end of the following season and wasn't ready to jump in 100%, decided to punt to the next season.

IDK- he is on a $170M contract, so that knee is pretty valuable.  haha

I think it's only one RB who did come back in 9 months.  That was Peterson and his recovery is considered remarkable but definitely not normal.   

What's peoples thoughts on the Sam Hill to Foes rumour from the latest OTB podcast?? 

I don't know the bloke at all but from what you see on social media he looks like he's committed to his kids racing rather than his and fair enough...he's got nothing left to prove to anyone .

The level at world cup DH is so high now and with the format that unless you have some chance of making at least the semis I'm not sure it would be worth it from a sponsors point of view , but if a bike manufacturer gave Sam hill a bike and some money and made a few videos every year of him riding inside lines I reckon that would be a worthwhile investment.

Not that I don't think Brent can whip up a DH bike but if not Sam back to Enduro only?  

Again...ACL & meniscus knee guy here.  Two completely DIFFERENT uses of that joint. Especially if there is meniscus damage in the slightest.

Basketball is the most brutal of all sports on a knee. Skiing really isn't.  Mainly because it's the one sport where you can have a custom molded CTi carbon fiber brace on for the full race & never notice it's even there.  Hell, a custom brace made skiing easier for me.  The suck part was whacking the patellar scar on the ice snowboarding.  

I stopped playing basketball.  I had even just won an amateur racquetball tournament at the gym I was managing and couldn't stand that "stomp/twist" action of a foot glued to the ground and driving on hardwood.  

It's why Kyrie Irving disappears at season's end in playoffs.
It's why Dwayne Wade had to fade away.
ACL and/or meniscus on hardwood...just brutal.