30 Dees

This past Saturday was the 30th running of a little known "race" up thirteen of the steepest hills in Pittsburgh.  The reason I put the word race in quotations is because the Dirty Dozen is only a race for about ten people and a day of survival for the rest.  This year was my third running and, in true DD fashion, there were cold temperatures, lots of windy spots, and snow.  Fortunately for me, because of road construction one of the hills was not on the route so we were down to only twelve hills, but that was still going to be about eleven more than I actually wanted to do.  

Like all good DD mornings I was a basket of nerves.  The day itself was going to be no different than the previous two years except I was on a new bike with different gearing, I was well under prepared physically, and the road conditions due to the weather were a general unknown (when a significant portion of steep riding is on slippery or icy roads, things can go seriously wrong).

The long and short of the day was this:  It snowed on and off almost the whole day and the temperatures hovered in the mid thirties (so it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick).  Riding as hard as you can to get up a hill makes you hot and sweaty.  Standing on top of a hill when you're hot and sweaty makes you very cold.  Slippery roads lead to lots of falls and wrecking (fortunately not for me).  

I learned a few things on this ride.  The first thing I learned was that I need to be in better shape if I plan to ride my current bike up these hills again next year.  The second thing I learned was that riding up really steep hills wears down your arms almost as much as your legs.  The third thing I learned was that mustaches are not as warm as beards.  The last thing I learned, and possibly the most important, is that if you're going to fall over in a slippery corner, make sure Jerry isn't there to see it because he'll yell at you loudly to go back to the bottom and ride the hill again.  After all, those are the rules.