Showing posts with label runaway truck ramp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label runaway truck ramp. Show all posts

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Runaway Truck Ramp

 Everybody having a good time today?

"You betcha!!!!" exclaims super happy Jack.
"Well, I WAS until you stopped and asked!" smirks Rudy :)

We had a zippy and zooming day flying around Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. The trails had not been groomed since either late Thursday or early Friday. As a result, the trail was pretty tracked up and fast packed near the trailhead. Not a problem, just extra work on the human to stay upright on slick conditions:

Zooming along near the trailhead. Not much groomer corduroy left for us.
Fast packed!

But, we know what to expect on these trails. Eventually we go further than most humans can make it on their own. At this point, we found a perfect and barely touched groomie zoomie trail!

Ahh, look at all that perfect corduroy on the trail!
Only 2 skiers had made it this far on their own.
I certainly couldn't make it this far from the trailhead without Jack & Rudy
towing me!!!!

Come along one of my favorite stretches of trail at Breckenridge Nordic Center. Why favorite? Well, watch to the end. The clip ends with us flying off trail into the deep snow to stop us. If you've ever driven high mountain passes, you know they have "runaway truck ramps" to stop trucks who lose their brakes. Well, this is our version of a runaway skijor ramp :) BTW, all the existing tracks you see in the ramp are our own from previous uses of the runaway truck ramp. We love flying into the deep powder to stop us, what a couple of runaway skijor partners I have :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Want some more fun from the day? How about a beautiful hover husky shot of Jack & Rudy as we fly around a left bend in the trail. I tell you, the kids were "feeling it" this morning!

Hover Huskies!!!

Finally, we always want at least one shot of elder, retired Zorro after we finish the day. Some days we get better shots that others, but here you go for today:

Zorro's cute face is unfortunately blocked by the shade.
Happy Jack looking on with cute Rudy in the background.

A beautiful morning for a fast outing making use of a fun runaway truck ramp for Jack & Rudy: 9.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH. We've been hitting 23 & 24 MPH pretty regularly this season. One of these outings they are going to bust out a 25 or 26!

2020/2021 Season to Date: 53 days on the trails covering 417.4 miles with 37,300 feet of elevation climbed.


Monday, February 26, 2018

Runaway Truck Ramp

Laying fresh tracks as we zoooom around a corner on the trails yesterday morning!
Zorro laying freshies in 1-2 inches of fresh powder atop the fast trails at
Breckenridge Nordic Center. Zoom!
If you are from Colorado (or other mountainous areas) then you probably know what a "runaway truck ramp" is. For those who do not... Well, highways that have long stretches of steep downhill grade always contain runaway truck ramps. These are side roads cut from the main highway that are either flat or uphill in grade and filled with sand. Typically they are placed on curves of the steep downhill so that a runaway truck (a truck who has lost its brakes) can exit the highway curve by going straight into the runaway truck ramp. The sand plus flat/uphill grade work to bring the runaway truck to a stop.

Back to yesterday morning's skijor. Zorro and I have a runaway truck ramp (or a runaway skijor ramp :) we love to use on the fast trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center. The nordic center has one long stretch of fast and mostly downhill trail; but this stretch ends at a hard 90 degree left turn. Now, consider that cross country skis are not designed for making 90 degree turns and they certainly cannot take such a turn when skijoring 20+ MPH. So, Zorro and I love to approach this hard left like a runaway truck and fly off the trail into deep powder to stop us (e.g., the "runaway skijor ramp") before backing up and turning left to continue.

Come along and watch as today's video has us finishing the skijor along this fast section of trail until we come upon the 90 degree turn and use the straightaway (off trail) deep powder to stop us. Just like a runaway truck :)
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

More fun shots from the day's fast skijor. Wouldn't this be fun:
Dancing elks ahead?!?! We wish. But I always get a chuckle when we fly by this sign
stating we have been on the "Elk Dance" nordic trail.
Nearing the end of the day's run and hooking up little Jack for his 50 yard dash:
All smiles, all fun! Wheeee!
And, finally, fun day, right Zorro?
"Oh yes! Fun indeed! I love being a runaway truck!" says happy, happy Zorro.
Fun day laying fresh tracks in 1-2 inches of new snow on the fast trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center: 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 37 days on the trails covering 272.5 miles with 24,300 feet of elevation climbed.