Just Enough

All smiles looking back to me at one of our break points on this morning's skijor!

"So fun being a 2 husky team again!" declares satisfied Zorro.
"I'm really getting the hang of this and LOVING it!" declares happy young Jack.

We went to the trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning hoping that they would be freshly groomed for one of our last "groomie zoomie" outings of this season (the nordic center closes on Sunday). Unfortunately, the groomers had not been out on the trails yet today. But, not to be deterred, Zorro, Jack and I found a way to have a great outing anyway.

Our solution? Well, stick to the lesser used of the nordic trails and hope they were not too tracked up. The result? Success! Look at the following shot.... You can see some existing tracks in the middle of the trail; but the shoulders are pristine and/or barely touched! Now, look closely as the shininess of the set tracks - this is ICE! You cannot skijor on ice as the human becomes frictionless and the sled dogs take "lack of friction" as a signal to floor it. Well, "floor it" and "ice" rarely combine into a happy ending :) But, notice the angle of this photo and you see that I am on the shoulder with my skis while Jack is sprinting the easy set track with Zorro straddling the shoulder and track.

Fast & flying Siberian Huskies with just enough untouched shoulder for the human to
safely come along.

Today's short video clip goes with the prior photo. Come along and watch as I am able to safely ride the "just wide enough" shoulder and avoid the icy middle track as we top 16 MPH skijoring with Zorro and young Jack. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We are still taking 2 breaks during our short skijors as we train and grow young Jack. The breaks are good practice for him to learn to listen and stop on command and they are also good to give him a couple of chances to rest and catch his breath during the outing. Zorro, of course, could do these short runs with no rest; but that would only serve to discourage Jack as he could not keep up.

"Stop again? Ok! Did I mention I am having so much fun!" declares happy Jack.
"If I point us to the right, can we get started again?" asks Zorro.

Everybody loves puppy photos. So here's your closing shot for the day as little Rudy joins us for "end of run" pork treats.

"Here I come, here I come! Save some for me!" states cute little Rudy.

Another fun, fast albeit short "start to finish" run with Jack joining Zorro: 2.1 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 47 days on the trails covering 318.4 miles with 29,600 feet of elevation climbed.

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