2018 Dirty Dozen Bicycle Ride on Saturday, November 24th
What: The 36th Annual Dirty Dozen Bicycle Ride up 13 of the Pittsburgh area's steepest hills
Where: **New Location** Registration, check-in and ride start are at the Rhododendron Shelter, Lake Dr, Highland Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
When: Early registration is open now. Registration and check-in start at 8:00 am on the day of the event, November 24th. Groups of riders depart from 9:00 am to 10:00 am, competitors first. Registration for competitors ends at 8:45 am.
• The
2018 event
• 2018 media links
•
Registration
•
Event categories
• Check-in
•
Parking and rider drop-off
• Route
•
Gearing
• Food stops
•
Support vehicles
• Being
an official finisher
• Points
competition
• Official 2018 Dirty Dozen
Jerseys
• Please support our sponsors!
•
After-party
The 2018 event
Danny
Chew continues as director of this unique cycling event. Danny has
made progress since his 2016 accident, which cost him the use of his
legs. In May, Danny rode a hand-cycle in the Pittsburgh Marathon and
finished in a respectable 3:09. Danny faces continuing challenges in
his recovery, and your participation in the Dirty Dozen will help to
support him. Additional donations can be made via You
Caring or Help
Hope Live (tax deductible).
2018 media links
One
In A Million article by Rosemary Bernth in Squirrel Hill
Magazine, pages 24-25
Paralyzed
Cyclist Takes On New Challenge: The Pittsburgh Marathon article
by Andy Sheehan for KDKA
Two
friends, now both paralyzed, to ride in the Pittsburgh Marathon
together article by Sean Hamill in the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
MARATHON
FIGHTERS: Paralyzed cyclist Danny Chew completes marathon — vows to
get better article by Sean Hamill in the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh
to christen Canton Avenue in Beechview as steepest in U.S.
article by Bob Bauder in the Tribune-Review
How
steep is Beechview's Canton Avenue? Steepest street in U.S.
article by Tony Larussa in the Tribune-Review
Registration
Early
registration is now open and offers discounted fees through November
4th.
Normal registration can take place through 9 am, November 22nd,
except postal entries must be received by November 19th.
Event-day registration opens at 8:00 am for unfilled categories.
Entry fees are $5 higher on event-day.
Online registration is
available at BikeReg.com.
You
can register via PayPal
as follows: Send the funds to DanChew8@gmail.com. In the PayPal note
include the name, age on DD day, gender, entry
category, e-mail address, home city and state (or country) and
number of DDs ridden (including this year) of each of the people you
are registering. Fees are $55 for the Select Open Competition, $45
for the Women's Competition, and $45 for all other categories. State
rider qualifications for entries in the Select Open Competition; in
case there are too many requests to enter this category the
organizers reserve the right to downgrade less qualified entrants and
refund the difference in fees.
To register by US Mail, print
out the Liability
Waiver / Entry Form, fill it out, sign it, and mail it along with
a check for $55 (Select Open Competition, include qualifications) or
$45 (all other categories) to:
Danny
Chew
5846 Marlborough Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Entry
fees are non-refundable if the DD is held on Saturday, November 24,
2018. Although the event has never been called off due to weather,
accumulating snow or ice could lead to cancellation.
Entry Categories
•
Select
Open Competition—The first group is for qualified riders who
compete in a mass start fashion. Points are accumulated from ALL
contested hill climbs to qualify for podium awards.
•
Women's
Competition—All women who would like to compete, but not in the
open event.
• Licensed
Group—This group requires a USAC license, but is not competitive
(unofficial competition is allowed).
• Club
Heat—Registrants are expected to be experienced group riders
capable of riding in close proximity.
• DD
Fan Club Heat—Registrants in this group are expected to be strong
climbers, but not necessarily experienced group riders.
•
Enthusiasts
Heat—Registrants in this group are expected to be strong climbers,
but not necessarily experienced group riders.
•
Party
Bus—Registrants in this group are here for the fun of it.
•
Party
Bus 2—Registrants in this group are here for the fun of it.
•
Caboose—Hey,
the weather is good, why not?
Check-in
On
event day those who have registered in advance will only need to pick
up their numbers, and sign waivers if they haven't already. Helmet
numbers are to be mounted on the front, center of your helmet, just
above the brim. These will be needed for identification throughout
the ride. Competitors will also receive frame numbers, which are to
be mounted towards the front of the bikes' top tubes where they are
clearly visible from either side. You must mount these to receive
points!
Parking and rider
drop-off
Parking
is available where the ride starts, along Lake Drive. Parking in many
locations along Beechwood Boulevard is also an option. Beechwood is
used to transit from the last hill back to the starting location. If
you park on Beechwood then you can ride to the starting location as a
warm-up, and have less distance to your vehicle after the last
hill.
Please avoid parking or rider pick-ups at the top of the
last hill—Flowers/Kilbourne/Tesla. The congestion antagonizes the
local residents. Group leaders will escort groups of riders from the
last hill back to the ride starting point off of Lake Drive.
Route
The
route for 2018 is not finalized, though much of the following
information should apply. The route is about 50 miles if you include
the section back to the starting location from the final hill.
Typically the ride takes at least 5 hours to complete because of the
stops and the easy pace between the hills. Most or all of the route
can be toured virtually with Street View on Google
Maps.
Click
here for a listing of the hills, history of the event, and former
winners.
Click
here for a version of the route stored on the Garmin website.
This may be transferred to Garmin devices and will be updated as the
route is finalized. It can be used for training on all the
hills.
Click
here for the Strava page of the route.
Click
here for the RideWithGPS page of the route, which includes
directions.
Click
here for a cue sheet of the old route (do not ride through the
Liberty Tunnels).
Gearing
Danny
recommends a low gear of 39x27 for racers, and 34x28 or lower for
recreational riders. These assume 700c wheels.
Support vehicles
To
be announced.
Being an official finisher
You
must successfully ride every hill in the event to be an official
finisher. Successfully riding a hill means that you make continuous
uphill progress to the top under your own current leg or arm power,
and the only contact points with the ground are the two wheels;
falling down, putting a foot down, grabbing poles or other stationary
or moving objects, jockeying in place, etc. are disqualifying, and
the hill must be restarted from the bottom if any of these occur.
“Finisher” ribbons will be awarded to riders certifying they
successfully rode every hill.
Points competition
The
lead group of riders will contain those riders wanting to compete for
points on the contested hills. The number of positions available for
men in the lead group is limited, so those wanting to compete are
strongly encouraged to register early. Enter this group only if you
are qualified and have a realistic chance of scoring points. This
category is open to men and women.
The second group will
consist of women who want to compete, but not in the open
category.
The pace between the hills is neutral and riders
must stay together. When approaching the start of a hill, riders must
stay even with or behind the riding official who signals hill starts.
The official blows a whistle at the beginning of each contested hill.
Only then may riders go as hard as they want to the top in an attempt
to score points, while still remaining alert for road hazards and
traffic. For the men, a ten-place points system (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5,
4, 3, 2, & 1) will be used at the top of each hill to determine
overall podium positions. For the women, a five-place points system
(5, 4, 3, 2, & 1) will be used at the top of each hill to
determine overall podium positions.
To remain eligible for a
placing in the points competition riders must be official finishers
as described above and finish the final hill within 20 minutes of the
first finisher of that hill. This is intended as an allowance for
mechanical problems that occur later in the event. Riders not making
the final hill time cutoff will retain their points, but will be
ranked below finishers arriving in time. Again this year there will
be a three-place prize list for men and women riders based on total
points. The breakdown will be:
1st woman - $ TBD
2nd woman
- $ TBD
3rd woman - $ TBD
1st man - $ TBD
2nd man - $
TBD
3rd man - $ TBD
If two or more riders have the same
point totals then a tiebreaker will be applied: Whoever has the
greater number of higher placings, starting with the highest, wins
the tie. For example, a rider with a single 9th-place
hill finish receives two points and wins the tie against a rider with
two 10th-place
finishes who also receives a total of two points.
On contested
climbs, maneuvers that are dangerous to others and/or would be
considered violations in standard road racing, may be considered rule
violations in this event. Rule violations are subject to penalties
applied at the discretion of the officials, and may range from loss
of points on one hill to disqualification from the points
competition.