A Little Z

 First tracks on the freshly groomed trail at Gold Run Nordic Center this morning!!!

Riding the Siberian Tow Rope up a slight rise in the trail.
What incredible conditions!

We started the morning in the backcountry. But, after a warm & dry yesterday (and cold over night), the side trails were pretty hard packed and slick. Compare and contrast the prior photo with the following:

Narrow, hard packed and slick trail in the backcountry!
Only safe enough for a gentle trot from Jack & Rudy.

Along the way, we stopped to sprinkle some of Zorro's ashes. We so miss our wonderful mentor who passed away last May. Jack & Rudy snapped to attention when I said the word "Zorro," and sat to watch what I was going to do after stating this memorable word...

"I see Z in the sky!" exclaims Jack looking up the the ashes coming
out of the bag in my hand.
"I see Z in the snow!" declares Rudy studying the ashes that have
already landed on the snow.

Why this particular trail for Zorro's ashes? Well, this is the trail that Max, Zorro and I pegged the term "groomie zoomie" for how fast they would run on groomed nordic trails. Jack & Rudy, of course, know full well about flooring it on the groomie zoomies:

Flying kids on the groomie zoomie.

But, it was Zorro who taught Jack & Rudy just about everything they know. Here is a memory from January 21, 2020 - 11 year old Zorro's last time topping 26 MPH skijoring. 2 year old Jack & Rudy's first time ever topping 26 MPH skijoring. This is on the same trail and almost same location as the photo above.

Left to right: Zorro (11 yrs old), Rudy (2 yrs old), and Jack (2 yrs old) topping
26 MPH skijoring on January 21, 2020.

Come along for the video counterpart to this fast section of trail. It would have been so cool if the GPS clocked us at 26 MPH today, but alas, it registered 25 MPH. That's still zooming! But, watch closely and you will see the occasional chunk of snow/ice flying off Jack & Rudy's feet. Well, these small chunks have to go somewhere such as my face & chest! I got 4 hits on the cheek, 2 on the goggles and 1 in my right ear. Sometimes it's tough in the back of the pack :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, Zorro taught Jack & Rudy just about everything they know. But, there are two things that are uniquely Jack & Rudy: snow angels and woos. Jack has rolled at least one snow angel on every single skijor outing of his life. Rudy has perfected singing his beautiful woo on the trail. 

This didn't come from Zorro! :)

We sure miss the fun Z, right guys?

"Please tell us he's coming back!" pleads my wonderful partners.

Staying safe on the groomie zoomies today as we celebrated Zorro's zooming memory: 8.9 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 101 days on the trails covering 892.0 miles with 81,700 feet of elevation climbed.