24 MPH

We hit our top speed of the season today - skijoring 24 MPH on the Sally Barber Mine Trail!

Sprinting along the trail! The GPS recorded us at 24 MPH on this section of the trail!
Our top speed of the 2012/2013 season to date. See video of the sprint below.

Our last 3 outings have all involved extended sections of breaking trail in a foot (or more) of deep snow. Today we decided to do a 180 from this recent trend and uncork the Siberian Engine on the short & easy Sally Barber Mine Trail.

As soon as I saw the trail, I knew it was going to be a fast day. A hard packed surface and 2 huskies primed to launch into some serious speed. We started at the Sally Barber/Barney Ford trailhead and jogged quickly up to Sally Barber Mine. We then sprinted down the other side to the French Gulch trailhead. I encouraged Max & Zorro to "let it loose" and boy did they ever! We then reversed and skijored back up to Sally Barber Mine and, once again, sprinted down to return to our starting point. I knew our top speed was over 20 MPH and was thrilled to find the following report on the GPS:

A short & fast day on the Sally Barber Mine Trail.
A short 5.5 mile outing...
A FAST 24 MPH outing!

And, here it is - what it looks like to be on skis behind a 24 MPH skijoring machine! Note: if you are wondering why it seems like I have one ski (right) behind Zorro and the left ski out from behind the skijoring engine - well, that's my safety technique. Whenever these two get going really fast, I will keep one ski behind the sprint engine and put the other ski to the outside - this way I can swerve (at 20+ MPH) to avoid any hazards.

Woo - hitting our top speed of the season! Fun!
[watch on youtube if no video shows below]

Stats for today's "short & fast" outing: 5.5 miles, 750 feet of elevation gain and top speed of 24 MPH.