Perfect

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

"We are! We are!!!!!" exclaims the happy, happy kids looking
back at me with all smiles.

As is often the case for us, we started this morning's skijor in the backcountry cruising around on single track ski trails. Wheeee!

Just wide enough to fit shoulder to shoulder in the single track and
speed, speed, speed!

Little did we know the extreme treat that was in store for us once we finished our initial tour through the backcountry. For background, Gold Run Nordic Center is hosting the Colorado High School Ski League State Qualifier Races on their trails later today. As a result, a lot of the nordic center is closed to the public today. But, they did leave a few trails open for general use. I expected the limited trails to be very busy this morning, so we went out on the early side. Well, what happened was the complete opposite of my expectations. Apparently the trail closures kept everyone away from the nordic center today. So, instead of finding the limited trails packed with other skiers, we did not see another soul ALL DAY LONG!!! On top of this, the open trails had be freshly groomed right before we dropped onto them. Can you believe it, we were first tracks on the fresh groom the entire time we were on the nordic trails. Wow!

We just dropped out of the backcountry and onto the Gold Run Nordic Center
trails. Pinch me, are we really first tracks (all day) on the limited open trails?!?

Jack & Rudy were just as excited as me at what we found. They immediately put the pedal to the metal and were zooming all over the place. I wear sport sunglasses (similar to goggles but a little less restrictive) for three reasons: 1) to protect my eyes from the sun; 2) to improve my vision (they are prescription sunglasses); and, foremost, to protect me from the occasional snow, slush and ice bombs flying of Jack & Rudy's feet! Here is an example :)

Incoming "bomb of snow" about to hit me in the chest.
I do get my sunglasses hit by such bombs occasionally. The price for
being at the back of the pack :)

Happily, most of the day I am not dodging bombs but comfortably riding the Jack & Rudy skijoring machine as we fly along the trails:

Ah, flying without any incoming snow/slush/ice bombs :)

Of course, given the perfect nordic conditions we found all to ourselves this morning, today's video highlight is "first tracks zooming" on perfect, wide trails. Come along as the GPS clocked us topping 24 MPH along this stretch of trail. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now that was fun, right guys?

"Oh my - we were FLOORING it!!!!!!" says the happy & satisfied kids
awaiting end of run treats.

A zippy fun day: 7.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 651.7 miles with 62,600 feet of elevation climbed.