Full Z

A wonderful morning for a full skijor with super fun elder Zorro! Go, Z, Go!!!

Whee, riding behind the power three!!!!!

If you've followed along all year, you know that Zorro has joined the team for every skijor this season but, as the season has progressed and he is approaching 12 years old, he only does a partial outing on most days. You can tell by his expressions and mannerisms that he is just fine with the partial outings and is happy to let Jack, Rudy and I go out for longer stints on most outings (who wouldn't want the 2 year olds more exercised!!!).

I watch Zorro on every outing to see what energy level he is at. It is clear when he wants a short outing and it is clear when he is READY to go!!! He had a very short stint yesterday due to deep snow and I could see from the start that Zorro was ready for a full "Zorro Run" this morning!

We did an out & back in French Gulch on what was (mostly) perfect terrain. The sides of the trail were well packed from other skiers while the middle of the trail was a little softer from lesser use. The fun trio took turns all morning with one running the soft middle and the other two on the firmer sides.

Zorro in the middle above. Jack in the middle below:

Jack in the middle, keep on trucking :)

I did say those magic words for Jack and Rudy above: out & back. Yep, it was the usual goofy kids at the turnaround point of the out & back :)

"I'm not going to look, I know what they are doing!" says cute Zorro to me.
"Rub a dub dub!" demonstrates the turnaround 'stop, drop & roll' twins.

Zorro in the middle above, then Jack in the middle. Ok, time for middle Rudy:

Rudy's turn in the middle, on we go, go, go!

With elder Zorro along for the entire outing, we took a second break (in addition to the turnaround break) to make sure we were not overdoing it with the fun guy. Well, what do you think of Zorro's day?

"Jeez dad, I'm crushing it today!" says super happy Zorro.
"Yea, he's the monster Z we all love!" adds happy Rudy.
"I agree, let's get this team going!" adds happy, but lined-out Jack ready to go :)

From all the pictures above, you might be thinking, "I need to get my skis and get out to French Gulch too!" Well, this trail was dead (down to dirt/mud) just 1 week ago. We've had some nice snowfall over the past week to bring French Gulch back to life; but it still has plenty of "I was just dead" reminders :)

Here we are riding atop a high snow wall to avoid the "I was just dead" reminder to our right!

Where's Jack? Ha, look closely, you can see his bushy white tail just
ahead of Rudy. Big Rudy is eclipsing the rest of Jack; but he is out
there leading the way past this obstacle.

Ok, how about a video highlight of the great and NOT great conditions? Come watch as we are cruising along the perfect trail until we come around a corner to a choppy & icy danger patch. Note that all it takes is an "Easy" or two from me for everyone to slow at the danger patch. Then a few "Good Easy" statements and we cross gently. Once to the other side, it is restart and GO! Now, keep this in mind: any one (or any combination) of the three is strong enough to push forward and propel me onto the ice patch with a certain wipeout. But, no, the PERFECT trio all crosses cautiously until the full team is over. What perfect partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, ending the day's run with the usual "all smiles" from the sled dog trio!

Whee - a fun day with Zorro! Super Z!

A great day going out & back with Zorro and showcasing my perfect trio preserving the human over dangerous obstacles! 5.4 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 148 days on the trails covering 1013.6 miles with 92,000 feet of elevation climbed.