4 in a Row

First time skijoring 4 days in a row for both Jack & Rudy.

Oh boy is this skijoring trio really maturing into a well oiled machine!

"Turnaround? Ok!" says happy Zorro at our turnaround point of the outing.
"I'm listening. Duck under the gangline and here I come." adds happy Jack turning around with Zorro.
"Why? Why? Why? Why turnaround?!?!?!" questions 'go all day' Rudy.

Skijoring 4 days in a row is a nice accomplishment for the two youngsters. We are still keeping all outings with Rudy under 30 minutes. Soon he'll be old enough for us to let him run longer. As you can see in the prior photo, Rudy already thinks he is mature enough to go forever. He questions every turnaround command :)

Another first on the trails today too - our first "Planet Z" moment from one of the youngsters. Our first full season skijoring, Zorro was 2 and Max was 3 (Zorro was 1 when we introduced him to the concept but 2 once we finally got a full season). Zorro was a wild 2 year old and would frequently dork with Max on the trails. We labeled this behavior "Planet Z" as in "Zorro, what are you doing? What planet are you from?!?" Well, I fully expected the following to happen: Rudy is also from Planet Z. See for yourselves:

"Dorking with Jack, dorking with Jack! Poke, poke, poke!" demonstrates Rudy from Planet Z.
"Get out of my face kid!" responds Jack. Not surprising that mellow Jack is NOT from Planet Z
and very expected that wild Rudy is!
"Don't know what you are talking about. Nor do I care - he's not dorking with me so
I'll keep on going!" adds veteran Zorro who refutes all tales about Planet Z from
his childhood :)

Luckily visits from Planet Z are generally short lived and skijoring resumes:

Flying along the fast groomed trail. Zoom!

Today's video fun is a wild one. We are on the trail known as Gluteus Maximus at Breckenridge Nordic Center. It has this name from the steep grades along the trail. A cross country skier gets a really workout on the glutes traversing this terrain. I, on the other hand, get a ridiculous workout of the quads and knees as I get thrown up, down and around this trail behind the speed demons. You know that feeling on a roller coaster when your stomach "goes into your throat" on steep dips? Well, that's the same feeling you get skijoring Gluteus Maximus behind these three!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, the end of the day's run and another steep section of trail as we zoom past Nancy. The trail ends just ahead at a closed gate. Look at my right ski almost perpendicular to the trail trying to keep under some minimum control behind these beasts!

"Ow, my quads & knees hurt!" :)

What a day... 4th skijor in a row, proof that Rudy is also from Planet Z and a quad & knee numbing abuse of the human (just kidding, it wasn't abuse, I really did have fun): 5.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 55 days on the trails covering 299.6 miles with 26,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Technical Day

Today's skijor outing involved taking the "narrow & technical" backcountry connector route from Baldy Mountain to Boreas Mountain.

Always fun to exercise all of my skiing skills :-)

Sprinting past Bakers Tank on Boreas Pass Rd.
This is an old relic from the days when Boreas Pass was a railroad route from Denver to Breckenridge.

The day started on easy & wide trails on Baldy Mountain and ended on easy & wide trails on Boreas Mountain. But, in between Baldy & Boreas is a seldom used and narrow connector route that weaves you through a dense forest. Here we go, skijoring from Baldy to Boreas:

Some of the trail was barely "2 Siberians wide" as we jog shoulder-to-shoulder laying
fresh tracks on the connector route.

Most of the Baldy to Boreas connector is typically a single track trail. It is not wide enough to run shoulder-to-shoulder, so Max & Zorro take turns running in lead. One might think that skijoring in this single file setup would be very slow going. Well, it is slower than shoulder-to-shoulder; but it is by no means "slow"....

Airborne Zorro in lead with airborne Max in second slot as we fly along a single track trail.
Note that "airborne" means we are going fast and note that in this single file configuration that
I have about 18 inches of "reaction space" between Max and myself. It exercises all of my
skiing skills to keep up (and upright) with Max & Zorro in this configuration - my leg
muscles are always burning after we finish a fast single file stretch!

The reward for doing the "narrow & technical" connector is gliding along fast & wide Boreas to finish the day:

Aaahhh, sitting back on the skis again as Max & Zorro do all the work and I get to
enjoy the ride!

A fun day covering 8.3 miles with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 58 days on the trails covering 487.7 miles with 52,300 feet of elevation climbed.