Catch and Pass

Starting today's skijor laying fresh tracks early in the morning in the backcountry!

Whee - zipping along laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow.

Our plan today was to skijor around the backcountry for a bit and then drop onto the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. As we transitioned onto the nordic trails, we were thrilled to see they had just been groomed and we were first tracks on the trail!

Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom - ZOOM!

We had not seen the actual groomer yet when we first got on the trail, so we did not know how long ago it had been here or how far ahead of us it was. Well, Jack & Rudy put the pedal to the medal and soon after we came around a bend in the trail to catch up to the groomer!

"The groomer! The groomer! We love playing catch the groomer!' declares
fun Jack & Rudy flying to catch the groomer in front of us.

We know this groomer driver from years of skijoring these trails. When the trail is safe and wide enough, he'll stop to let us pass. He'll wave with his hand and make a beep from the groomer when it is time for us to pass. Well, if you look at the prior photo, where we first encountered the groomer, the trail is exactly "one groomer wide" with no shoulder for us to pass. Not a problem, we just continued slowly behind the groomer waiting for a passing zone. Jack & Rudy were NOT a big fan of this slow follow as they kept glancing back at me, kept switching sides (hoping the switch would let us speed up :) and Rudy even tossed out a gentle woo. It turns out that it took us upwards of two minutes following the groomer until it was finally safe to pass. This was probably Jack & Rudy's longest "slow ride behind a groomer" of their lives! Anyway, eventually the trail widened, as I knew it would, and the groomer stopped, waved and beeped telling us time to pass. You didn't need to tell Jack & Rudy more than once that it was time to pass :)

Smart kids seeing the passing lane is to the right of the groomer
(I said nothing, just let them do the thinking and get it right).

Finally, once in front of the groomer and the kids were thrilled to FLOOR it again!

"Ah, past the groomer - floor it!" says the speed demons.

Ok, now let's put that whole story together in a video. Come along as we start out flying along the freshly groomed trail. Then, about 30 seconds into the clip and we catch the groomer. I then slowed us to follow for the next two minutes or so. I have cut the "two minute follow" out of the video and it restarts with us still behind the groomer but almost at our passing point. A few seconds later and the groomer stops, the driver waves us on and turns on his beeper to let us know. Smart Jack & Rudy dip to the right, pass on by and then get back on the trail to floor it. We love playing catch and pass the groomer!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead for some well earned end of run treats for my great partners:

"That was fun!" declares happy Jack.
"I can taste the treats in anticipation!" slurps silly Rudy.

Nice day: some backcountry, some nordic groom and a fun catch & pass the groomer episode: 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 58 days on the trails covering 495.3 miles with 47,500 feet of elevation climbed.