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dirty dozen spectator points

does anyone have any good suggestions for places to watch the dirty dozen? particularly if i wanted to ride between a few of the hills and still catch the action? thanks
btotheen
2013-11-13 03:48:54
The south side has a few hills close together (welsh way then berry/holt/Eleanor). Canton and Boustead are close to each other, though if riding a bike over there solo, it can be kinda sketchy.
stefb
2013-11-13 05:50:27
Getting to the top of Burgess is fairly easy by the 8 Perrysville bus, which runs fairly often, and the 11 Fineview bus, which actually is on Hazleton for a little bit, but does not run very often. You will not spectate all the hills in one day. Pick maybe three and try to hit those. SHB from a hike off Perrysville is an excellent choice. Getting to BHE and Welsh Way from the top (48 Arlington) should be pretty easy, as should Flowers-Tesla from the top (61C).
stuinmccandless
2013-11-13 08:07:44
Out of curiosity , does the DD feature any twittering? It's be nice to know which hills are currently in play.
ahlir
2013-11-13 09:02:02
I have road marshalled this event for the past couple of years. The first year, I posted information here, so everyone could get it. Last year somewas was tweeting the information. I don't tweet, so the old school way of posting here worked better for me. As for spectating, I would suggest you try to get to no more than three of the hills on a given event day. My recommendations: The first hill in Fox Chapel is fun. It's also the largest group of participants. Logan in Millvale is probably my favorite. I like to position myself near the bend, where I can watch in both directions. The top of Burgess is nice. Canton is the classic. Please, please, please, be polite, and arrive at the base of Canton EARLY. Like at least 10 minutes before any of the riders. Even then, expect to walk a couple of blocks to the base of Canton. There is extremely limited parking. Everyone wants the primo spot at the base of the hill at the last minute. But, the cyclists need that room for their startup at the base of the hill. As a spectator, I wish the road at the base of the Canton hill could be closed to motor vehicles about the time the cyclists top Mt. Washington.....but I digress. I also find a couple of the hills on the South Side to be fun to watch. I'll see if I can remember the specific one I like....it escapes me now. Again, be aware that these cyclists move quickly. If you plan to spectate at more than one location, don't plan on making it to every hill, or even every other hill. You can do every third hill, maybe. But at whatever location, please plan on arriving early and waiting for the riders. This day is about them. Let's not add new levels of difficulty by asking them to share the road DURING THE HILL CLIMB with you in your nice warm car.
swalfoort
2013-11-13 09:19:22
P.S. If you are planning to cycle between hills, you might want to do an easy three ....Logan (Millvale) , Mt. Washington and something in the the Welsh/Berry/Eleanor grouping on the Southside. I find that the DD riders get from the top of Burgess to Mt. Washington as quickly as I can in my car....so catch them in Millvale rather than north side to start.
swalfoort
2013-11-13 09:23:30
Last year there was a live stream online. My husband and parents watched at home.
stefb
2013-11-13 10:56:49
Cycling Fusion provided the live stream last year, I do believe.
sew
2013-11-13 11:03:52
And checking out the cycle fusion website, they have a twitter feed on the side and it does appear that they are planning to stream it again this year.
sew
2013-11-13 11:05:16
Sounds great. Looks like the right thing to do is plan to reach a hill maybe 1-2 hills ahead of the current on, and wait.
ahlir
2013-11-13 12:35:14
Swalfoort wrote:P.S. If you are planning to cycle between hills, you might want to do an easy three ….Logan (Millvale) , Mt. Washington and something in the the Welsh/Berry/Eleanor grouping on the Southside. I find that the DD riders get from the top of Burgess to Mt. Washington as quickly as I can in my car….so catch them in Millvale rather than north side to start.
I hope to ride between hills. What about Aspinwall, Millvale and Mt. Washington? Approximately what time do they get to Mt. Wash area? I only have until about noon before I have to start riding work. Probably only see a couple of hills at most I guess, but a couple is better than nothing. Fun watching great hill climbers.
gg
2013-11-28 12:34:51
Rialto is in this year and berryhill is out. I wasn't keeping track of time last year, but Rialto and canton take longer than others.
stefb
2013-11-28 16:34:35
Danny Chew's website has both riding and driving directions for the route. It's old, but mostly still works. The exception is that Rialto in back in, Berryhill is out. Most people know how to find the bottom of Rialto. I don't know how to get to the top of Rialto, so I can't help there. I'll see if I can cut and paste Danny's directions here: DIRTY DOZEN Daniel Chew’s Annual Tour of Pittsburgh DIRECTIONS The “Riding” directions are for the course as ridden by the cyclists. The “Driving” directions are shortcuts taken by the race officials to make sure they beat the riders to the top of each hill. Probably easiest to read on Danny's site: http://www.dannychew.com/dd.html Search for link about halfway down the page.
swalfoort
2013-11-29 11:26:32
Good luck to all riders! Kick ass!
stefb
2013-11-30 07:42:17
Anybody have the livestream link?
swalfoort
2013-11-30 08:31:22
There is still a crapload of hard ice in many places. Please exhort everyone to be super careful.
edmonds59
2013-11-30 09:24:30
The live video is up and running!
marko82
2013-11-30 09:49:54
Approximately when might the group reach Beechview ?
fultonco
2013-11-30 10:14:57
Beechview should be about 12:30 or so I think.
marko82
2013-11-30 10:45:39
Thanks Marko82
fultonco
2013-11-30 11:19:30
Cycle fusion feeds not working ondroid. Riderz on logam 11.30
swalfoort
2013-11-30 11:36:19
Dd.er with mrchanical problem at top of logan....well behind pack. Can anyone msg.race support vehicle?
swalfoort
2013-11-30 12:09:10
Got him..all good
swalfoort
2013-11-30 12:35:57
@ Mt. Washington 1:28
marko82
2013-11-30 13:26:13
According to Chew, only two women have made Canton after 15 minutes of trying. Very tough today with some mud between the cobbles.
marko82
2013-11-30 14:11:12
Two women broke their rear derailleurs I heard, and I think they were Di2s. I saw one last woman get up the hill (Danielle) when the group was moving on. As the lead group was heading toward the last hill after crossing the glenwood bridge, I actually felt wind as they passed me. Amazing. It was much more fun watching this year. Great job to everyone who rode. I read that steevo won again.
stefb
2013-11-30 18:28:48
stefb wrote:Two women broke their rear derailleurs I heard, and I think they were Di2s.
That sucks. I definitely wouldn't ride my best bike/equipment in the D12. I imagine that with the likely hood of falling, a good crit bike would be the way to go. If I'm around next year, I'm definitely going to train and ride this.
headloss
2013-11-30 19:21:11
stefb wrote:As the lead group was heading toward the last hill after crossing the glenwood bridge, I actually felt wind as they passed me.
According to the banter on the live feed, the pace line was doing 34+ MPH across the bridge. This after climbing eleven of the hills!
marko82
2013-11-30 19:24:00
Yep. They were going faster than cars. So impressive
stefb
2013-11-30 19:36:01
Canton Street was a spectacle to behold. There were a number of riders giving it more than one try. Not sure how many made it. A huge group reconvened at the intersection of Coast and Banksville and took over Banksville as they headed toward Boustead. I was helping to marshal in that area and would say that nearly everyone in cars was very nice and patient. There was one fellow who got out of his vehicle and started demanding that I let everyone go through, even though the area was reduced to one car width, plus jammed with cyclists and spectators. He then resorted to telling the other drivers to just drive through the crowd. Fortunately, he was not the lead vehicle and the others paid him no mind. He called the police. A female officer by the name of Costa came a short while later. She was very pleasant and reasonable. She drove up as far as she could and watched the event for awhile. Not sure what her report will say. The fellows from Big Bang Bikes were also marshaling at the intersection of Banksville and Coast. One of them suggested that a wooden horse used for block party events be used to close the road next year. Might not be a bad idea. In all, it was a great event and I am sure that the few problems experienced can be overcome in the future.
fultonco
2013-11-30 21:12:49
People are crazy. There is more than one way people can get to where they are going from the comfort of their warm cars.
stefb
2013-11-30 21:59:52
I was hanging out in Pittsburgh Guitars when I saw an assload of bikes go flying by on Carson. I walked out with the owner John to watch, that was very cool... Then I told the tale of the dirty dozen to everyone in the shop - sometimes I forget that as big as it's become, most people probably still haven't heard of it. Thanks to all the volunteers for making it happen, I feel a bit guilty for not joining you.
salty
2013-11-30 22:13:58
I am amazed by how good these cyclists in the top several area at climbing these crazy hills. Such a cool race. Congrats to all who finished and whoever the winner is. Thanks for all the information on this thread.
gg
2013-11-30 22:22:18
The marshals were unreal. Thank you guys a ton for doing a long day's work. It seriously makes the event what it has grown into. As far as the guys at the front, they have it easy. Sycamore in 3 minutes? Imagine being at the back and doing it in like 9 minutes! then multiply that by 12! Huge difference in effort!
steevo
2013-12-01 00:59:48
Congratulations to everyone who participated. You are badass!
ericf
2013-12-01 05:47:28
Lolz I don't know if I can drive a car up sycamore in 3 minutes.
stefb
2013-12-01 08:28:10
Definitely in the 6-9 minutes category, with a water stop :-)
fultonco
2013-12-01 08:32:37
I apologize for telling the women to throw some elbows.
stefb
2013-12-01 12:38:48
Huge, huge thanks to the organizers, volunteers and especially the marshalls. Also big thanks to everyone who came out with their cow bells, amazing cheers of encouragement, or just to watch and clap. It really made a big big difference on the last few hills.
atleastmykidsloveme
2013-12-01 18:24:32
Dan's videos were great! I especially noticed the contrast in cadence between Rialto and Sycamore... That's endurance. I didn't come back to Tesla to see the show. I've made it up Tesla before, but not without a stop at that driveway near the top. Awesome that others can do it in one take. (BTW, the map on Chu's webpage [Post-Gazette's?] no longer corresponds to the actual route.)
ahlir
2013-12-01 19:10:53
Ahlir wrote:(BTW, the map on Chu’s webpage [Post-Gazette's?] no longer corresponds to the actual route.)
The route changes depending on street closures. FYI, it is Danny CHEW. This is actually sort of important because there is someone who tags as CHU in the city, and a few years ago there was a big kerfuffle when people saw CHU near the DD route and thought that Danny or someone was tagging the route... (never mind the fact that it is his name). I love Tesla but can't imagine yet doing it at the end of the ride -- rode the first 3 this year and headed home.
neilmd
2013-12-02 09:12:35
That was on NPR's national broadcast of "all things considered" from what I understand.
stefb
2013-12-02 10:17:11
Thanks to the volunteers stopping traffic for us wouldn't happen without them. They have guts to be out in the middle of those intersections. The spectators were crazy this year much more intense than years past it was really cool to ride through a wall of sound on multiple hills.
tetris_draftsman
2013-12-02 10:18:28
Marko82 wrote:WESA Fm has a nice seven minute report on the ride:
Thanks for the link. Really is quite an event. I keep thinking it will someday be picked up by the media in a big way due to how interesting it is. It is surprising it isn't made more public. I don't know if that would be good or bad if it got more press from the masses?
gg
2013-12-02 10:26:30
Danny keeps it under the radar on purpose. its a completely pirate event. no permits, no permission. its current size is about as big as it can be without getting crushed under its own weight.
cburch
2013-12-02 10:43:56
I have a bunch if photos to upload when I get home. I tried to take photos before the turn into Eleanor and some at canton and Rialto.
stefb
2013-12-02 10:51:35
I just posted a bunch of photos (about 220!). I was at High St./Seavey Rd., Suffolk/Hazelton/Burgess, and Sycamore. http://www.pedalercoffee.com/dd/ I have some video too - will post that as soon as it's up. Congrats again to everyone who completed all 12!
jimg
2013-12-02 21:43:30
stefb wrote:I apologize for telling the women to throw some elbows.
A veritable ray of sunshine in the community, you are!
mick
2013-12-02 23:04:47
Can't you tell by my choice of gravatar?
stefb
2013-12-03 04:18:28
Steph, I should have taken your advice! I'll just leave this here...
kbrooks
2013-12-03 17:41:33
When we were pulling out of Washington Boulevard at the start and about to turn on Butler Street\Allegheny River Boulevard there was a drone with a video camera (presumably) flying directly over the road as we all passed under it. Anyone have any idea if video was taken and if it will be posted somewhere?
awallrider
2013-12-03 18:10:44
BTW, on a bike I was able to hit the first 5 hills (excluding berry hill, which was closed) to spectate with no problem (did take the shortcut on the railroad tracks to connect from etna to millvale). Just have to stay on the flats and know where you're going and you can beat the pack. Rode to sycamore to watch while the pack was riding sassafrass. Afterwards, I ate some soup and warmed up a bit while people did canton and then hopped over to ring a cowbell at welsh way. Couldn't beat the pack to barry/holt/elaenor, but I just rode with the group and climbed up with them. I was surprised at how do-able it was to hit so many hills. I know canton is the big spectacle, but it's a bit out of the way.
benzo
2013-12-04 11:09:03
You rode along the tracks from Etna to Millvale? Wow, I rode them on my way to the start, and they were darn near unridable. I had to slow to a mild jog in order to not crash. Coming back, I used Butler/Plummer/Willow from HPB to 40SB and think I made much better time, even though I wasn't hurrying. Also, I too saw the little helicopter over the group by Wash/ARB/Butler. With the blinking red and blue lights on the side, I initially took it for an experimental police drone of some sort. Did anyone get a picture or video of it?
stuinmccandless
2013-12-04 12:32:54
StuInMcCandless wrote:You rode along the tracks from Etna to Millvale? Wow, I rode them on my way to the start, and they were darn near unridable. I had to slow to a mild jog in order to not crash.
Yeah, those surly knard 700x41c tires made it a piece of cake. However, they do roll a bit slow on the road.
benzo
2013-12-04 15:19:55
@Benzo - any chance you were the Amazingly Encouraging Screaming Dude about halfway up Welsh Way?
atleastmykidsloveme
2013-12-04 16:47:08
really cool video of a local cross race with a drone, That is some impressively smooth joysticking... I wonder how long it takes to get that good (and/or, at editing).
ahlir
2013-12-04 18:15:14
Based on my 30 seconds of quadricopter experience, the machine does all the hard work - it's really stable and easy to fly.
salty
2013-12-04 22:22:55
AtLeastMyKidsLoveMe wrote:@Benzo – any chance you were the Amazingly Encouraging Screaming Dude about halfway up Welsh Way?
I don't think I was screaming. I was ringing a really loud cowbell though.
benzo
2013-12-05 10:44:34