Foreshadow

Uh-oh....

The kids announcing that a duel was to take place on the trails
this morning!

As I was stepping into my skis at the trailhead this morning, I felt a tug on the gangline in front of me. I figured it was the usual "trailhead silliness" and expected to look up and see Jack & Rudy rolling snow angels as they waited for me to get my skis on. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and captured the oncoming duel you see in the prior photo. When the kids announce a duel before we even get started, that's a real foreshadow for what is most likely to come later in the outing. Sure enough, the dueling kids lived up to their foreshadow.

Three times during the outing, a "talk, tag, tackle & roll" event broke out. Here are a couple of clips from the first duel:

"Get back on the trail! I dare you!" yells Rudy to Jack who has dipped off
trail in response to Rudy's challenge.
"Did I really start this?" asks Jack looking back to me :)

Yes indeed, normally mellow Jack DID start the original duel you see in the first photo. Rudy, of course, will not back down from any challenge and the duel was on for the morning! Finally, Jack figured, "If I started it, I guess I'll finish it!" 

"Have at you! Poke!" responds Jack to Rudy's challenge for him to
come back on trail from the shoulder snow above. 

So there you have it - the dueling 4 year olds. The trailhead foreshadow was 100% correct!

After a few bouts along the way, Jack & Rudy finally realized we were on incredible trail conditions at Breckenridge Nordic Center. After a few team organization meetings with lectures from myself, we decided to skijor. Phew, I was losing my voice from all the lecturing! But, once they snapped into skijor mode, oh my did we FLY around the trails! Come along for some highlights.

Cool shot of cannonball Jack and missile Rudy in a tight and fast airborne zoom:

Impressive!

Or, how about this: the missile twins shooting along the trail as they propelled me to a top speed of 25 MPH this morning?

FLYING!

Or, how about a little hovering over the trail at mach speed?

Hover Huskies! Zoom!

I think you get it - once the kids settled the duel (it was a 'draw' :), they locked into super fast skijoring the rest of the outing. Come along for a fun video minute look into the fun. Amazing how the day started versus what we have in the video below!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Let's go tell retired mentor Zorro all about the day!

"A duel? Really? I would never..." says Zorro (who had many a duel
with Max on the trails in his heyday).
"Ok, we'll call it a draw and share 'end of run' treats!" summarizes
silly Jack & Rudy.

Oh those kids, from dueling goofballs to ridiculous speed demons - all in one outing: 10.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 60 days on the trails covering 482.5 miles with 45,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Workout

Cute Zorro prodding me to "get with it" and dish out those "end of run" treats :)

"Poke, poke, get with it already!" says prodding Zorro.
"You have my full attention!" adds happy Jack.
"Look who is the 'picture of patience'!" declares mellow Rudy (haha).

We went to skijor an out & back on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. Typically they run the groomer on these trails on Monday morning to cleanup the terrain after heavy weekend use. But, unfortunately, we got to the trails before the groomer. As a result, we found ourselves on fast packed to extremely slick conditions all morning long. This leads to a real workout for ME as I have to ski, snowplow and drive my skis into the hard terrain in an attempt to keep us under control. I like to pretend I can stop if I need to and slick conditions really test my abilities! Whew!

The closer to the trailhead we were, the more packed and slick the trail was. Look at the shininess of the trail in the following photo - that is packed to the point of slick ice! Yikes!

Oh boy were my legs burning trying to keep the machine under
control on slick stretches of trail!

Luckily the highest points of our outing were a little nicer as not many people make it this far out on the trails. It was still fast & hard packed up high, but at least it was not slick & shiny ice!

Super hard packed trail; but that is still better than slick ice!

Come along for today's loud video clip. If you have your volume on, you will hear my skis in a constant "scrape" as I try my hardest to keep us under control on ridiculously fast conditions. All that scraping you hear is work on my legs - ow :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

At our turnaround point, I was happy to encourage silly antics from the kids while I rested my legs.

A real test of the wide angle of my camera to capture this dual snow angel!
"What silly kids!" says happy Zorro.

I took so long to rest at our turnaround that even mature Zorro lost patience. I thought he was going to go roll a snow angel in the side powder but he decided to chomp down on snowcones while waiting for me instead.

"Yum, tasty snowcones!" demonstrates snow eating Zorro.
"Hey big bro - what do you have over there?" asks onlooking Jack.
Rudy was in his usual la-la-land and never noticed Zorro (and then Jack) eating snow :)

We've now had back to back skijors of "almost too hard packed" conditions. As I look out the window, I see the upcoming snowstorm blowing in over the mountains. We can really use a dose of fresh snow on the packed trails and hope to wake to upwards of 12 inches of new snow tomorrow!

A hard packed, hard on the human's legs day: 6.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 85 days on the trails covering 584.7 miles with 54,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Poke

Very focused and very happy trio waiting for their 'end of run' treats this morning:

"We had a blast; but you now have our FULL attention!" says the happy & focused trio :)

We skijored the upper trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. It was a surprisingly interesting terrain for this time of year. We found the middle of the trail to be pretty soft while the sides were quite firm. There were post holes from previous dogs on the trail down the middle and Zorro, Jack & Rudy found they were poking through too if they ran the middle. Not a problem, though, my smart partners quickly figured out to avoid the middle and run the sides. But, not all three could fit on the same side without the inside guy drifting into the soft middle. Again, not a problem, the smart fellas simply separated and Zorro ran one solid side while Jack & Rudy ran the other solid side. I, on the other hand, could ride the middle as you don't post hole on skis. A perfect configuration with the sled dogs on the firm sides and the skis down the soft middle!

You can see some of the pre-existing post holes down the center. Smart Zorro moved to the left and
smart Jack & Rudy moved to the right. All paws now on firm terrain with me skiing down the middle.

I believe the soft center was caused by a few factors. First, we had a TON of snow recently. Second, the nordic center groomer has only made 1 or 2 passes on the upper trails since the recent snow. Third, few people make it to these upper trails (it's a long haul without dog power). So, lots of snow and little use (groomer or skier) made for the soft center. Note that the firm sides mirror what would be the heavy treads of the groomer machine.

Another shot, this time in the shade showing the soft middle:

Same as above - Zorro on the firm left, Jack & Rudy on the firm right, me skiing down
the middle and a bunch of pre-existing post holes from some "not as smart" dogs
that ran the trail before us.

In addition to interesting upper elevation terrain, the comedian kids were in rare form this morning.

At one quick pause on the trail and here comes the rodent "dunk & dive" twins:

"DUNK!" demonstrates Jack.
"Incoming - DIVE!" demonstrates swan diving Rudy.
"Kids, it was just a quick pause, let's go!" adds mature Zorro.

At our turnaround point of the morning, it was the usual "stop, drop and roll" twins:

"Ah - stop, drop & roll!" demonstrates the goofball twins.
"You two! I give up!" adds Zorro :)

We started this season with the comedians rolling snow angels at every pause. Then they added "dunk & dive" to their repertoire recently. Well, today, Jack the consummate clown expanded the comedy act. The new antic? Poke the brother:

"Hehe - POKE - you know you are laughing!" says Jack the clown to Zorro.
"Oh, 'poke', I like that addition!" adds onlooking Rudy.

We'll see if Jack keeps the "brother poke" as a regular addition to the comedy act or if it just an occasional addition :)

Anyway, back to skijoring... The lower part of the trail was stable from side to side as it gets a lot of use. Thus, proving my theory that the lack of traffic on the upper trail was the reason for the soft center today. Come along for fun along the lower solid trail; but note that everyone is keeping the "configuration of the day" (Zorro left, Jack & Rudy right) just in case it gets soft in the center.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

An interesting day showcasing smart trail configurations by Zorro, Jack & Rudy and a day of extra comedy from the silly kids Jack & Rudy: 6.1 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 298.8 miles with 29,400 feet of elevation climbed.