26 MPH

Who was having a great time out on the trails this morning?

"Oh, the BEST time!" exclaims happy Jack.
"Yes, yes, I'm having a BLAST!" adds happy Rudy.

Today's skijor outing started with a postcard view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Beautiful shot of the ski resort across the valley as Jack & Rudy zip along.

The outing then changed to a postcard view of fast & impressive Jack & Rudy:

Max speed reported by the GPS on today's outing: 26.0 MPH!!!!!

We usually top 26 MPH skijoring 1-3 times a season. Typically this happens in January or February when the conditions are best. Before today, though, our top speed of the season had been 24 MPH (multiple times). I thought maybe that was going to be our season's top speed once we got into March. Then today came along with a perfect trifecta: 1) great snowpack on the mostly shaded upper loop at Gold Run Nordic Center; 2) no significant new snow in the last few days to slow us down; and 3) the groomer had run on the trail moments before us and we were first tracks on the fresh groom! I could feel the speed behind Jack & Rudy and fully expected this outcome - max speed: 26 MPH!

Come along and watch the fun as we topped 26 MPH along the way in today's clip. Unfortunately the incredible sprint ends when we encounter a loose dog, with no responsible human in sight, in the trail and have to stop for everyone's safety. Oh well, it was an incredible speed sprint before that! :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually a human showed up to collect the loose dog (so much for the "sight control" rule at the nordic center). No big deal, Jack, Rudy and I happily got past fluffy and then it was time to floor it again:

Catching air on the groomie zoomie! Wheeee!

Of course, going this fast means you really need to roll in the snow to cool your jets during any pause in the outing. Jack apparently needed to "cool his brain" today too, haha!!!

Jack looking like his is about to transition into a headstand in the snow.
With Jack, it would not have surprised me if he really did a headstand!!!
Rudy, on the other hand, it gently cooling himself in the snow.

Just when I thought we were going to top out at 24 MPH this season, my pals turned it up a notch and showed me!!!!

"If I lick your hand, will the end of run treats come out faster?" asks silly Jack.
"Can't believe you doubted our top speed of the season!" adds cute Rudy.

Zoom: 8.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH!

2024/2025 Season to Date: 74 days on the trails covering 576.1 miles with 54,300 feet of elevation climbed.