Trail Hazard

Our first skijor on the Gluteus Maximus Trail at Breckenridge Nordic Center this season:

The fun & fast kids tucked into a tight right on a steep section of trail.
The clumsy human, though, has to swing far out to the left to be able
to maneuver such a tight swing in the trail!

While we have skijored Breckenridge Nordic Center plenty of times this season already, today was our first time on the Gluteus Maximus Trail which intersects with the rest of the nordic center trails. This particular trail is know for steep inclines, steep declines and wicked tight curves along the way. I am often amazed I come out the other end upright, haha!!!

Anyway, after zipping along Gluteus Maximus, we transitioned onto the main upper loop at the nordic center. This started with a long climb to the top of the loop. We always pause after the climb so I can catch my breath before getting behind the speed demons on the way down. Well, a pause...

"Stop, drop & roll!" go the snow rolling goofs cooling their jets after
the big climb while I catch my breath.

Ok, human has his breath, kids have rolled to cool their jets, so off we goooooo!

Zoom behind cannonball Jack and missile Rudy!

Notice anything special about the prior photo? Well, we are first tracks on a freshly groomed nordic trail! It turns out we were the first on the upper loop at the nordic center and, thus, were first tracks on the fresh groom this entire duration of the outing. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom:

Catching air on the groomie zoomie!

I was thinking (to myself) yesterday that we haven't had one of Rudy's patented rodent dives in a while. Well, among his many other talents, apparently Rudy is a mind reader too. So, here we go from the entertaining redhead:

"Rodents under the snow!" declares Jack lunging off trail to dig for prey.
"Oh boy - just what dad was thinking about yesterday. Incoming!" adds 
beautiful rodent diving Rudy.

Today's video highlight features one of the trail hazards we encounter on our outings. What hazard? Well, an ill-mannered loose dog who jumps into the middle of our team. Jack & Rudy prefer to run on by any dogs we encounter (loose or not). But, if the dog comes into the middle of the trail (and, thus, our team), we have to stop for everyone's safety. Watch as we tolerate the annoyance until we can finally get on by. Once on by, it is flooring it again. Jack & Rudy would MUCH rather run than meet some random dog - it's a sled dog thing, you know :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Some additional comments on that video clip. First, Jack & Rudy do enjoy other dogs, they have fun meeting them on walks or in parks; but they would rather run than stop for boring fluffy on skijor outings! Second, the rules at Breckenridge Nordic Center are dogs must be under "voice & sight" control. Haha, if your volume is up, you can hear the lady calling the dog's name and yelling "treats" to no avail. It takes me to guide the dog towards the owner so we can finally get on by. Oh well, Jack, Rudy & I expect this to happen. We don't mind except we all HATE stopping when we were going so fast :)

Finally, back to the trailhead and time for some well-earned end of run treats for my perfect pals:

"Groomie zoomie - we had so much fun today!" says the happy kids.

What a beautiful day for a super fun skijor: 9.5 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 49 days on the trails covering 368.4 miles with 34,400 feet of elevation climbed.