Defying the Dirty Dozen: Cyclists take on steepest of Pittsburgh's steep hills
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Getting into the grassy area of Canton Avenue usually meant disaster during the 29th annual Dirty Dozen bike race that took cyclists over 13 of Pittsburgh's steepest hills on Saturday. -
Steve Cummings was the overall winner of Dirty Dozen bike race after the finish up Tesla Street in Hazelwood.
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Bob Stumph had just finished 4th in the race to the top of Canton Avenue, the steepest of 13 hills cyclists tried to race up Saturday during the 29th running of the Dirty Dozen bike race.
But that's not what Mr. Stumph, 24, a barber from Beaver, wanted to talk about with his band of supporters, who cheered him as he took on the hills, each of them at least a 20 percent grade.
"I'm so glad you came," he shouted to his girlfriend's mother, Becky Gannon, over the cacophony of cow bells, air horns, and shouts of "Go! Go! Go!" Nearly 200 spectators lined both sides of the 100-yard-long cobblestone street to cheer on other cyclists trying -- many in vain -- to climb the 37 percent grade hill. "This is what the Dirty Dozen is all about."
PG SLIDESHOWThat was the sentiment of the day for the 300 or so riders who came out trying to fulfill the goal the race founders had when they started in 1983 with just five participants: the three co-founders and two friends.
"The whole thing back then was to try to do outrageous rides," said Bob Gottlieb, 52, a Squirrel Hill resident who still rides the race occasionally. "Whether it was a 150-mile ride in the Laurel Highlands, or to ride the steepest dozen hills in Pittsburgh in one day, we just wanted to do rides that we could challenge ourselves and hang out with our friends." There were 12 hills that first year, and there have been as many as 15, but this year it was a baker's dozen.
While the race still has that quirky, grass-roots feel to it -- it has a $15 registration fee, it doesn't take out permits with the cities it runs through, there's no title sponsor, and the 13 finish lines are hand-drawn orange chalk lines on the streets -- Saturday's turnout may eventually change all of that.
Though the race has grown steadily, its previous record attendance from 2009 was still just 185 participants -- already making it Pittsburgh's biggest bike race.
First Published November 27, 2011 12:00 am
