Ahead of the city’s 42nd annual Dirty Dozen bike race, a group of local cycling powerhouses turned heads with a jaw-dropping training ride up Canton Avenue—one of the steepest public roads in the world.

On Saturday, October 18th, exactly one week before the main event, riders including Ted King-Smith, David Good, Eli Lobien, and Dave Norton gathered to rehearse the punishing climbs that define the Dirty Dozen: a 50-mile ride featuring 13 hills, each with grades above 20%.

Canton Avenue, the ninth hill, is notorious for its 31% average gradient paired with Belgian block paving, making it a brutal test of strength and balance. The video, filmed by Neil and posted to Instagram @neileoglenn, has now reached 1.7 million views.

A group of us were training for Pittsburgh’s 42nd annual Dirty Dozen bike race/ride, which is a 50 or so mile ride throughout town that features 13 hills above 20% grade, including Canton Avenue (filmed here); the ninth hill and steepest of the bunch (and one of the steepest public roads on the planet) with about a 31% average paired with Belgian blocks that adds an extra challenge, on Saturday the 18th of October, exactly one week prior to the main event. Pittsburgh cycling powerhouses Ted King-Smith, David Good, Eli Lobien and Dave Norton organically put on a show of climbing it.

I filmed it with an iPhone SE