Dishin’ Dirt
Four years after successfully conquering Pittsburgh’s infamous Dirty Dozen ride (documented here), I’m still suffering PTSD. So instead of training up and riding this year, I once again chose to photograph the riders, as I did in both 2018 and 2019.
It made perfect sense. After doing eleven indoor centuries in 2020, this year I just wasn’t motivated for the intense training that would be required. On top of that, my bike’s in pretty bad shape thanks to the unavailability of replacement parts due to supply chain issues. As if that wasn’t enough, this year had pretty typical Dirty Dozen weather: cold drizzle and temps in the 40s.
So I packed up my archaic dSLR and hit the slopes on foot, hitting four strategic locations: hill #6 Logan, hill #9 Canton, hill #10 Boustead, and hill #12 Eleanor. Yes, the numbers have changed, because of tweaks to this year’s course; Berryhill is back in, but the route still begins with Christopher, which this year stands in for Rialto, which was declared too difficult and dangerous to use.
During the long waits between grouped categories of riders, you often find yourself recognizing and/or chatting with other folks who have come out to spectate. At Eleanor, this year I chatted with an aspiring future Dirty Dozen rider named Ryan who had pored over my 2017 writeup to learn about the ride and the course. It’s always a delight when I find someone who has benefited from any of my writing, and especially my Dirty Dozen and Pan-Mass Challenge reports, so that was one of the day’s several highlights.
This year I came home with 414 photos, a tiny sampling of which appear below. To see the rest of my 86 curated shots, go visit my 2021 Dirty Dozen Flickr album. And for previous years, here are links to my 2019 blogpost & 2019 Flickr album, and my 2018 blogpost & 2018 Flickr album.
And as always: click for teh bigness.
View the Full Album