Planet Z

A couple of times a year, our skijor outing is interrupted by an alien from Planet Z...

Perfect sprinting form along Shrine Pass Rd at the Vail Pass Recreation Area.
This is what most of the day looked like; but not all... Aliens from Planet Z...

What is Planet Z, you ask? Well, this phrase was coined our first year skijoring when little Zorro was only 1 year old and still had a lot of "puppy" in his id. When Zorro forgot he was skijoring and decided it was time to play, you could see the alien from Planet Z overtake his body and he would pull puppy pest antics on the trail! The visits from Planet Z are always short-lived (thank dog); but they are also pure mindless puppy. Max is not immune either, he has had his body overtaken by aliens from Planet Z as well; but they visit Zorro far more often than Max.

As the years have gone by, I have had less and less chance to mention Planet Z in our blog as Max & Zorro have fought the temptations from Planet Z and become skijor professionals. Consider that it is March 17th and this is my first mention of Planet Z this 2013/2014 season! But, the planet is still there and the aliens are just waiting for a chance to jump in. Today they found a way into Zorro and then pulled Max into the fray as well!

Those are not my Siberian Huskies! No way, those might be their bodies but the brains
have been overtaken by aliens from Planet Z.

Here is what skijoring with aliens from Planet Z looks like - repeated silliness from the aliens in front of me on the trail!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Luckily, the aliens were missing most of the day and it was (mostly) a fast & fun run up, down and along Vail Pass...

Perfect form again as we cruise along Shrine Pass Rd for miles & miles.

I should have caught the foreshadow that the aliens were working on Zorro; but I missed it early on. This video clip shows Zorro starting to succumb to the aliens. We had been running perfectly for 15-20 minutes and then we get to this section of video. The clip starts just fine as we are still cruising along in perfect form. But, watch at about 20 seconds into the video and Zorro starts "drifting back" as clearly the aliens are overtaking his mind. He is able to shake the aliens after a few seconds and shoot right back into form with Max; but I should have seen the aliens approaching...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After an alien attack, you can stop and ask Max & Zorro about it; but this is what you get:

"Hi! We are having a great time today! What aliens? We have no idea what
you are talking about!" say the happy & innocent pair.

A 99% alien free outing on Vail Pass with the season's first official visit from Planet Z for a brief moment on the trail: 10.9 miles with 1400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2013/2014 Season to Date: 109 days on the trails covering 938.1 miles with 109,450 feet of elevation climbed.