2021 Dirty Dozen Bicycle Ride on Saturday, October 23th

What: The 38th Annual Dirty Dozen Bicycle Ride up 13 of the Pittsburgh area's steepest hills

Where: Registration, check-in and ride start are at the Rhododendron Shelter, Lake Dr, Highland Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. Online registration is available at BikeReg.com.

When: Online registration is open now. Registration and check-in start at 8:00 am on the day of the event, October 23th. Groups of riders depart from 9:00 am to 10:00 am, competitors first. Registration ends at 8:45 am.

• The 2021 event
• 2021 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 2021 Dirty Dozen Jerseys
• Please support our sponsors!
• After-party

The 2021 event

The Dirty Dozen was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID, and resumes in 2021 on the fourth Saturday in October. Danny Chew continues as director of this unique cycling event. Your participation in the Dirty Dozen helps to support Danny. Additional donations are welcome.

2021 media links



Registration

Registration is open. Normal registration can take place through October 21st, except postal entries must have been received by October 14th. Event-day registration opens at 8:00 am for unfilled categories. Entry fees are $5 higher from October 15th through October 21st. Entry fees are $10 higher on October 22nd and event-day. Registration is free for hand-cyclists.

Online registration is available at BikeReg.com.

There will be a special session for packet pick-up and registration from 4 to 7 pm on Friday, October 22 at Biketek.

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. Early registration fees are $65 for the Open Competition and $55 for all other categories. State rider qualifications for entries in the 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. Add $5 to each entry fee if registering from October 15th through October 21st.

Mailed entries must be received by October 14th. 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 $65 (Open Competition, include qualifications) or $55 (all other categories) to:

Danny Chew
5846 Marlborough Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Entry fees are non-refundable if the DD is held on Saturday, October 23, 2021.

Entry Categories

• Open Competition—For qualified riders who compete in a mass-start points competition. Points are accumulated from ALL contested hill climbs to qualify for podium awards.
• Handcycle—For hand/arm-powered cycles. How many hills can you tackle? The most hills wins. Tie breaker is how far up the last hill you make it.
• Licensed Group—For experienced group riders/racers who do not care to compete in the Open Competition, but prefer an unofficial/casual competition to be run by the group leader.
• Women's Competition—For all women, although women are welcome to compete in the Open Competition, or to select any of the other categories for which they qualify.
• Club—For experienced group riders having no intention of competing.
• Fan Club—For strong cycling enthusiasts who have less experience riding in a group.
• Enthusiasts—For strong climbers, but not necessarily experienced group riders.
• Rouleur—For strong climbers, but not necessarily experienced group riders.
• Party Bus—For those having the Dirty Dozen on their bucket lists, and no desire to compete.

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 and handlebar numbers. The frame numbers are to be mounted towards the front of the bikes' top tubes where they are clearly visible from either side. The handlebar numbers are mounted in front of the handlebars using the included twist ties. These must be clearly visible from the front. You must mount all numbers 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

Click here for this year's route on Garmin's site. Individual groups may deviate slightly, but the hills are the same. Compared to the previous event, Berryhill Road has been added as the fourth hill, and Rialto Street has been removed. The first food stop is now at 132 Grant Avenue in Millvale.

The route this year is about 60 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.

Gearing

Danny recommends a low gear of 39x27 for racers, and 34x28 or lower for recreational riders. These assume 700c wheels.

Food stops

There are two official food stops. The location of the first stop is 132 Grant Avenue in Millvale. This is between the fifth and sixth hills. There will be two portable toilets at this location. The second stop is at the top of the ninth hill, Canton Avenue. There will be two portable toilets near the end of the street. Snacks and drinks will be provided to registered riders at both locations. A bathroom will be available at the fire station atop the third hill, Ravine Street.

Support vehicles

There will be one support vehicle for the Open Competition, which will carry a limited supply of spare inner tubes.

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. The “continuous uphill progress” rule is waived for hand-cyclists. These riders may stop temporarily and even drift backwards; they must simply make each hill on their own power while staying on their cycles.

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.

There is a later group that will consist of women who may 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 open competition, 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. The competitive events have prizes based on total points. The breakdown is:

Open event
1st – trophy + Jersey
2nd – trophy + Jersey
3rd – trophy + Jersey
4th – trophy
5th – trophy
6th – trophy

Women's event
1st – trophy + Jersey
2nd – trophy + Jersey
3rd – trophy + Jersey
4th – trophy
5th – trophy
6th – trophy

Site of the awards ceremony: East End Brewing, 147 Julius Street, Pittsburgh, after officials have determined final results and as soon as riders and officials can gather there after their respective events.

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.

Official 2021 Dirty Dozen Jerseys

Jerseys are available from Aero Tech Designs. Proceeds will benefit Danny.

Sponsors

A big thanks to our new and returning sponsors:

Aero Tech Designs

Biketek Pittsburgh

Cobden Street Block Watch and South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association

Dave Norton

East End Brewing

NuGo Nutrition

After-party

The official DD after-party will be held at East End Brewing, 147 Julius Street, Pittsburgh, beginning immediately after the ride and continuing into the evening. Awards ceremonies will be held at this location as soon as riders and officials can gather there after their respective events.