27 MPH Wow

Jack & Rudy topped 27 MPH skijoring this morning - wow!

The "max speed" recorded on the GPS - 27.4 MPH. Wow!

Today was Jack & Rudy's top speed ever skijoring. The trails at Gold Run Nordic Center were perfect and freshly groomed. The temperature was below zero when we started and in the negative to single digits all morning long. These two conditions (perfect trail + perfect temps for Jack & Rudy) yielded this amazing feat from them. 27.4 MPH - wow!

What is really interesting is the parallel of this feat with Max & Zorro. Max & Zorro topped 27 MPH skijoring once in their career too. Now, Max was taller than Zorro with an incredible stride. I used to tell people that our top speed was 26 MPH (which Max & Zorro did many times) as I was convinced this was smaller Zorro's top speed. I knew Max was faster, but you go the speed of your team. Then one day Zorro blew me away and topped 27 alongside Max!

Well, I used to tell people that Jack & Rudy's top speed was 26 MPH (which they have done many times). Similar to Max, Rudy has an incredible stride but I was convinced that 26 was smaller Jack's top speed. Again, I knew Rudy was probably faster than 26; but you go the speed of your team. Well, today was the day Jack stunned us all and topped 27 MPH alongside Rudy. Impressive.

As I mentioned, the trails were absolutely perfect this morning with cool temperatures to keep Jack & Rudy from getting hot. It was great in the shade:

First tracks in the shade on the groomie zoomie.

It was great in the sun!

First tracks in the sun on the groomie zoomie!

It was the Jack & Rudy bullet train all day long!

Rudy the missile next to the Jack cannonball. Zoom!

Come along for the video clip where the GPS clocked us topping 27 MPH. We start out the clip in a gentle sprint. Then, partway through, Jack & Rudy really floor it and we take off! Zoom! What is really interesting is that this is the exact same stretch of trail where Max & Zorro topped 27 MPH 6 years ago! Clearly this is the "zoom trail" for our pack :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead to report the impressive milestone to Zorro!

"I knew Jack had it in him! You doubted me once too!" Zorro is telling me :)
"I was flying!" declares happy Jack.
"I'm impressed too!" adds fast, fast Rudy.

What a day! 10.6 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 27 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 803.3 miles with 76,000 feet of elevation climbed.

27 MPH

The GPS clocked us at our top speed ever this morning - skijoring 27 MPH! Zoom!

What 27 MPH looks like from behind Max & Zorro with the GPS recorded top speed
overlaid in the upper left corner. Zooooom!

Today proved that we have been operating under two false hypotheses...

Hypothesis One: We had believed that our top skijor speed was 26 MPH as we believed that was Zorro's top speed. Zorro is shorter than Max, so we always thought tall Max's top speed was probably more than 26 but we would always top out at 26 as a team as that was Zorro's top speed (you are only as fast as your slowest dog). Well, today we hit 27 MPH - so this hypothesis was wrong...

Hypothesis Two: Max turned 9 years old last month so his "top speed days" were behind him (he's shown no signs of slowing down at all, but he is 9). Well.... 27 MPH at 9 years old - hypothesis wrong!

Here we go from today's record outing...

"Hey little bro - can you do it? Can you top 26? Try to keep up with me!" whispers Max
to Zorro as we sprint along the trails.

Today's video highlight is actually two short excerpts from our outing combined into one clip. I am sure that it was at some point during these two excerpts that we were clocked at 27 MPH. Watch, hang on and come along for the fast fun - wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

"Told you I could! Told you, told you, told you!" yells Zorro the hovercraft to Max
as he had proven us all wrong today about what is our top speed.

What an amazingly fast day. One more parting shot of the record outing:

27 MPH Hovercraft!

I knew we went fast today and totally expected a top speed on the GPS of 25 or 26 MPH. Little did I know we were setting a personal record! 8.3 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 27 MPH!

2015/2016 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 817.1 miles with 88250 feet of elevation climbed.