Climbing Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh

[fiamme red]

From this year's Dirty Dozen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z_lb4Dg744. :eek:

No hecklers, as far as I could hear. ;)

[bironi]

The hecklers are those in the road out of their pedals.
Still respect the effort.
Nasty to take a 90 degree turn with that in your face.
Kudos.

[weisan]

the first guy was "fully committed,"

[R3awak3n]

Some of them actually made it look easy

[ergott]

Definition of heckle
transitive verb

: to harass and try to disconcert with questions, challenges, or gibes : BADGER

[soulspinner]

Cool …

[rwsaunders]

Hats off to anybody that rode the DD on Saturday as it was raining for most of the day and the temperature might have peaked at 39F. Canton Avenue and any of the Belgian block roads on the route had to be as slick as snot.

Take a look at this older video...Canton Avenue shots around 2:44 in to give you a better idea of the grade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_bjyyVJH4

[BassoBry]

The weather was brutal this year. I was there doing mechanical support and getting some photos/vids. Here's another look at Canton. :eek:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4824/46060129511_41e0cbf0a3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dbbcMZ)Dirty Dozen 2018 (https://flic.kr/p/2dbbcMZ) by Bryan Heller (https://www.flickr.com/photos/134762374@N08/), on Flickr

Here's my buddy Ted after finishing his 12th Dirty Dozen.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4828/46060129681_fa0461209f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dbbcQV)Dirty Dozen 2018 (https://flic.kr/p/2dbbcQV) by Bryan Heller (https://www.flickr.com/photos/134762374@N08/), on Flickr

[v531xc]

ah, that's a great photo of Ted!!

Watching DD recaps always makes me miss Pittsburgh

[pjbaz]

They're all badass for trying it, but my favorite part is always the groans from the crowd when someone gets SOOOOO close but has to put a foot down.

[54ny77]

very cool!

looks steep as heck.

[thwart]

OK... so that looks like a 27 big cassette cog, and maybe a 34 (36?) inner chainring...

That is a little nuts.

Makes my knees hurt.

[fiamme red]

Some photos of this year's DD: https://dirtragmag.com/off-the-trail-the-2018-dirty-dozen/.

[bikeridah]

@14:35, guy riding share bike ftw.

[Matthew]

What's the gradient?

[pjbaz]

What's the gradient?

Canton Avenue is 630 ft (192 meters) long (the hill is about 65 meters long) and is claimed to include a 37% grade 6.5 meters long. If accurate, this 37% gradient would make Canton Avenue the steepest in the world. - wiki

[Matthew]

Wow.

[rwsaunders]

What's the gradient?

Strava from 2016...not mine.

https://www.strava.com/routes/7068026

[Matthew]

Nothing close to 37% on that Strava

[rwsaunders]

Nothing close to 37% on that Strava

The details are always in the fine print at the end of those infomercials...Canton Avenue is 630 ft (192 meters) long (the hill is about 65 meters long) and is claimed to include a 37% grade 6.5 meters long. Sections of Logan Street are pretty damn steep and hit grades in the 40%+ range.

[Dino Suegiù]

I did not know of this event or that hill, and have never been to Pittsburgh, but that was great.

The woman with the pink cowbell was fantastic, enthusiastically cheering everybody on equally, teaching her daughter some nice lessons about sportsmanship and support.

Thank you for posting it, that was fun to watch.

[BassoBry]

Nothing close to 37% on that Strava

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4885/45153379035_16794154bf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bN3St6)Photo Nov 26, 5 38 05 PM (https://flic.kr/p/2bN3St6) by Bryan Heller (https://www.flickr.com/photos/134762374@N08/), on Flickr

[BassoBry]

OK... so that looks like a 27 big cassette cog, and maybe a 34 (36?) inner chainring...

That is a little nuts.

Makes my knees hurt.

Yep. That's what he's running. 34-27 lowest gear. Most of the guys in the higher heats run that. Prob helped with traction this year because a lot of the hills were very slick from the rain. Either way, they're all monsters.

[Matthew]

It is indeed 37%. Damn that's brutal. I've climbed a few 20 percent hills and they were hard. Can't imagine 37.% Props to all those that did or tried!

[bitpuddle]

Some very impressive efforts there. That is crazy hard under the best of conditions. I wouldn’t even consider doing that ride if it was wet like that.

[weisan]

from previous year's but from a rider's perspective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUeldorMIHs

[sailorboy]

I did the event back in '03 or '04 on a similar day. Back then only 8 or 9 of us finished and it wasn't nearly the popular spectacle that it is today. Knowing what I do now about the performance of wider road tires and lower pressures makes me (sort of) want to go back again and see how that changes the experience. Seems like the perfect event for a gravel or adventure road bike. Mtn bikes tho? meh, that's depriving yourself of the true DD experience.

[rwsaunders]

^ Sean, when you rode the DD, Dubya was the President and half of those hills were still “Belgian block”. Come back next year and ride and I’ll either ride support for you or I’ll join you with an ebike.

[chiasticon]

@14:35, guy riding share bike ftw.VERY impressive.

a few do it on single speeds. the same riders will come out to cyclocross races and win the 123 (geared) field. on a singlespeed.

[SpokeValley]

So where's the footage of the screaming downhills? :rolleyes: