Spectators Guide to the 2016 Dirty Dozen Bike Race

Update 10/24/19: The 2019 Dirty Dozen will be held on October 26, 2019. Read more about the race and where to watch here. 

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is the annual Dirty Dozen Bike Race. What started as a group of friends pedaling up the steepest hills in Pittsburgh, now has several hundred riders.

The race was started by Danny Chew, a Pittsburgh cyclist who is on a mission to ride 1,000,000 miles in his lifetime. Earlier this year, Danny was injured in a cycling accident and is currently in Chicago for rehab. Thanks to the magic of technology he will be giving race commentary via Skype.

The website for the 2016 Dirty Dozen race is mostly information for riders,  here are a few things that might be helpful if you want to watch the race. You should still click over to the website, lots of links to articles about Danny and the history of the race.

Dirty Dozen Live Video Feed

A livestream of the race is being broadcasts via Facebook here. The link has been a little unreliable, so you may have to refresh or visit the Cycling Fusion Facebook page to see if they have posted a new link.

Where to watch the race in Pittsburgh

Here is a map of the race: https://www.strava.com/routes/7068026

So this is a little tricky, the most important thing if you are going to try to watch is to stay out of the way of the cyclists. There is usually not much parking near some of the hills.

From previous races, I would recommend, looking at the livestream, see which hill the cyclists are on and then go ahead 2-3 hills, so you have plenty of time to get there and park before the cyclists start.

At 10 am, the lead group had just completed hill #2.

List of hills:

  1. Centre Ave, Aspinwall
  2. Ravine Street, Sharpsburg
  3. Christopher Street, Lawrenceville (New for 2016)
  4. High Street / Steavy Road, Etna
  5. Logan Street, Millvale
  6. Rialto Street, Troy Hill
  7. Suffolk / Hazelton / Burgess, North Side
  8. Sycamore Street, Mount Washington
  9. Canton Ave, Beechview
  10. Boustead Street, Beechview
  11. ?
  12. Barry / Holt / Elanor, Southside

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