Classic

A rare photo with one of my skis in the "classic ski track" as I fly along behind Jack & Rudy!

Right ski in the classic track. Shift my weight to the right leg and we FLY!
Shift my weight to the left leg to regain some control and braking :)

I use classic (versus skate) skis to skijor with Jack & Rudy. Why is the prior photo rare? Well, the ski in the classic track (my right in this photo) becomes an almost frictionless device. Jack & Rudy are trained to go as fast as they can propel me unless I verbally ask them to slow down. So, a ski in the classic track turns me into an almost weightless resistance object and Jack & Rudy GO! You'll never see me with both skis in the classic track, that would be pure suicide. But, I occasionally put one ski for fun knowing that I can shift my weight to the other ski if we start going too fast!

Back to this morning's outing. We had a blast skijoring the recently groomed upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. While we were not first tracks on the recent groom, very few others had been out before us. Along the way, we get some really nice views such as the following:

Zipping along with miles of snow capped Rocky Mountains ahead and
to our right. Wheeee!

The recent groom allowed Jack & Rudy to run hard & fast (their favorite activity). But, zooming all day means you need to take a break at one of the warming huts along the route. What do Jack & Rudy, the Siberian Huskies, do with a warming hut? Well, see for yourself:

"Rub a dub dub, need to roll around in the snow to cool our jets!" says the
silly kids. Yes, Jack & Rudy view the warming huts as cooling devices :)

Then, at one point the kids came to a halt. Why? Well a moose had crossed the trail and exited into the forest. You must stop for moose tracks! 

"Moose went this way. We should too!" suggests the silly moosers.
I, of course, vetoed this proposal :)
Notice the snow on Jack's head. He first dipped his head in the tracks
to sniff them and popped right up as to say, "These are FRESH, we should follow!"
Nice try, Jack: VETO!

Since the bummer human wouldn't let us wander into the forest to find the moose, we might as well floor it again :)

Catching air on a perfect nordic trail.

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. As you can see, we were really zooming around the trails this morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and time for some well-earned end of run treats:

"That was FUN! We sure earned our rewards today!" says the happy,
happy kids.

A nordic zooming day: 9.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 95.8 miles with 8700 feet of elevation climbed.