The weeks leading up to this year’s Frigid Bitch were unseasonably warm; we saw some days hitting 70 degrees and I was worried the race would be a bust. This alley cat is supposed to be one of the hardest of the year, rewarding the women who come out to kick ass in hideous weather over grueling terrain with undiluted access to a seriously stocked prize table. I was checking the forecast every day from two weeks out: 45 and cloudy, 40 and rainy, 35 and some sun…it looked like the best I could hope for was temps hovering around freezing and a light dusting of snow.



I shouldn’t have worried; Mama Nature had my back. The weathermen don’t know shit and when Feb 13th rolled around, thermometers were reading single digits with 25mph gusts of wind and the roads were covered in snow and ice. My first volunteer showed up and asked me how many ladies I expected in this mess. I told him probably at least 15; if 25 raced I’d be super stoked. Elise R had texted me to say if she wasn’t so desperate to win the Sparkle Pony jersey she’d stay home. Julie M took a page out of the ALK handbook and woke up race day with a wicked hangover, but she had to come live up to the smack-talk she’d laid down on local crusher Suz F. Sarah R was only three blocks away and sent me some disgruntled UGH YES I’M COMING messages. There were a couple of inspiring women who had made their way down from New York City late the night before for the race. Josie was the first racer to show and broke the ice on my stack of spoke cards, aptly-numbered for her first ever alley cat. A handful of ladies started trickling in, but soon enough turned into a steady stream. From my Chrome bag hip-pounch I handed out cards 5, 13, 21…until I passed vet Bitch Alex K #31 and she looked up at me and asked “…is this real?”





the spokecard………………………………..the manifest







the map

It was real. I was worried I was going to run out of my abundant spoke cards, and as the last person pushed through the pile of sloppy bike shoes and packs in the hall I had one left. Racers had til about 1:50 to pour over their maps and manifests, splayed out over every inch of available floor, counter, and table space in the House of Raging Women.















Shortly before go time I stood up on a chair in the living room and everyone crammed in as best they could. Looking at a crowd of ladies, only half of which I recognized, I elatedly rattled off the rules. “Alright, this is how it works!” There were 6 regular checkpoints, 2 unmanned bonus checkpoints, and 1 secret checkpoint whose location was only known by the Ricketts Boys @ the double intersections of Stanton and McCandles. The manned checkpoints would be open til 4; racers had til 5pm to get back to the HoRW. Winners would be determined by who hit the most checkpoints and got back the fastest. “So if you’re riding with your best friend you better sprint up the hill and throw your bike through the door before she does!” Everyone ready? Throw on all your shit and let’s head out.











The start line of the race was the bricks of Bruce St, and the ladies gathered up at the intersection across from the House (blocking traffic up 44th st!). A Pittsburgh Post Gazette photographer set up at the end of the street while I gave everyone got a crash course on cyclocross starts (because if you wanna get ladies out to races you might as well make the experience mandatory, right??). I hollered out the 30 second mark and readied my aproppriately-borrowed whistle from JR Petsko himself.











…and they’re off!video of the start from Monica VChristina G from NYC showed up late and grabbed my last spoke card. Sarah P rolled up even after that, as the surprising only fat-bike rider of the day, and I had to make her card on the fly. Later, as she made her way through the checkpoints volunteers would ask “#89? Really? You’re SURE that’s your number? ….Are there 89 racers???”

THE CHECKPOINTS

The Abandoned BargeAt one of Pittsburgh’s great punk spaces hidden just off plain sight on the North Shore trail, a handful of volunteers were waiting next to an icy run-up from the Allegheny River.







bike pgh/franky





elise&josie/monica

this was the first alleycat for all three ladies





carlea&sarah/group shot!

carlea broke a 5 year streak of no racing for the frigid bitch!





jess/erika on the run up





Joncaire @ Boundary St.At the bottom of Joncaire St. in Panther Hallow racers were told they had to climb the cobbles up to Iron City Bikes to complete the checkpoint. Normally the sidewalk is a slightly-better battered alternative to the rough road, but the excellently timed snowfall meant everyone was spinning up the cobbles. Some ladies misinterpreted the stop and showed up at the top of the hill…and were sent, cursing, down and back up! Out-of-towner Kristina S found her way out of the woods to make this checkpoint, complete with a frozen derailleur. The dudes at the stop were mega helpful tho - Chris L @ Iron City got her bike moving again and Paul B helped her warm up with a flask of tequila. From there she was unsure how to get to her next checkpoint - but it didn’t matter, the vet alley cat racer got to the end of the bike trail and followed the tire treads leading the way down, assuming the only people crazy enough to be out were fellow Frigid Bitches. She later told me she felt like a hunter reveling in the brutality of the race.







a volunteer cheerleads victoria up the hill/sarah on her fatbike













up to iron city bikes/kristina and christina











The Dead End of RomeoThis checkpoint was so awesome. At the end of Romeo street, past the old punk house venues, is one of Pittsburgh’s coolest city stairs. The Romeo St steps descend a cliff, and platform out into an intersection with the Frazier St steps. There, in the woods overlooking 376, is a legit street sign marking the intersection of Romeo and Frazier. Racers had to carry their bikes down Romeo and then either back up the Frazier’s steps and cobbles to Juliet St (oh hello Valentines Day weekend), or down the long staircase to treacherous Bates St. Volunteers set up at the top with a fire pit and left a frostbitten friend to direct racers through the intersection.



the firepit/rollin deep









which way?





snowed over south oakland/elise w practicing her carry









bev on knobby tires/cobbles to juliet st





The Intersections of Stanton and McCandlessMcCandless weaves around to hit Stanton halfway up from Butler, and then again at the crest of the long grindy hill. Racers were told they could make their way to either spot where a Ricketts Boy waited to break the grim news that they would have to ride to the other checkpoint - on McCandless. This grueling stretch of road is built from gnarly cobbles and brick; and since most ladies headed straight over from the House of Raging Women, it meant they were climbing that steep stretch.



the cobbles



Noah P was the photographer on duty; apparently a woman with a “I’d rather be rowing” bumper sticker pulled up and looked at him kinda side-eyed. “Do you need something?” “There’s a ladies’-only race happening right now.” “Oh…that explains why I saw so many sad-looking women at the bottom of the hill!”



























Commonplace CoffeeOne of the few checkpoints without a challenging layer of mean; Scott K and Shawn K waited at the coffee joint to collect spoke card numbers.

















Negley @ Fifth AveI had considered putting Rialto St on the route, but that section of town was already a little checkpoint heavy, so Negley was added as a slightly out-of-the-way hill climb. Dave G waited at the bottom of the hill to direct ladies up top where Eric L was waiting to mark their numbers. Let me tell you, people were not pleased with this turn of events. Alex K dragged her fixie up the sidewalk and sent me a pleasant hand gesture at the top, and when Sarah R arrived at the bottom intersection she refused to believe she had to climb the hill, cursed me out, cursed out Dave, and then demanded he PROVE I had told him to send people up the hill (maybe remembering the year Paul Beaver hijacked the Point fountain stop and made everyone do snow angels). Dave pulled out his phone and showed her the damning text message evidence.



it ain’t canton but it’ll do





fatbike power!





alex showin some love





The SubmarineOne of the two unmanned checkpoints, racers could make their way down the North Shore trail any time before 5 and snap a pic of themselves in front of the Carnegie Science Center’s sub.











The Rubble of the Greenfield BridgeWhen this crumbling piece of Pittsburgh architecture was recently blown to smithereens a handful of city cyclists gleefully rode around on the temporarily closed highway it spanned over. Now the only sign the bridge was ever there are some jersey barriers at the bottom of Pocusset, the road the city blocked off for bike traffic only.

SECRET CHECKPOINT - Espresso A ManoAs a reward for braving the monster checkpoint that was Stanton and McCandless, The Ricketts Boys clued racers in to the secret bonus checkpoint.The first person back to the House of Raging Women was Noah P, who had been taking photos on McCandles until his fingers and batteries froze. The first racer, tho, was Erika K, vet alley cat racer and 2014 Frigid Bitch winner. She rolled through the door grimacing and swearing, stumbling towards the kitchen on ice block frozen feet. She didn’t make all the check points and still had some time left, but opted to head back early and stave off frostbite. Like Noah observed, “at some point you gotta weigh the options between points and warmth.” “Yeah, well, there’s plenty of prizes, so…” she replied.I started to get my first inkling of how much pain people were going to be in as they trickled through the door, and I legit spent maybe a half hour of scribbling numbers wondering if I was gonna get beat up by an angry injured mob of amazons. (Thankfully they cheered up immeasurably as they defrosted in the house). Bikes started stacking up outside on the fence across the street, and one helpful volunteer went to talk to the neighbors - who loved it! They told him they’d never seen so many bikes in one place, and another neighbor said she loved showing her daughter ‘all the tough girls on bikes out front.’After maybe a solid hour of furiously calculating hunched over hardwood floor (a position I’m getting more and more familiar with…), I was ready to call out the winners. All the ladies gathered in the upstairs studio in front of the prize table, so many they crowded up the biggest room of the house. A few of the volunteers squeezed in, some audibly jealous of the Frigid Bitch swag pile. I climbed up a ladder so everyone could see me.







“So…I wasn’t expecting this many women to show up…” The room erupted in cheers.







Before getting to the prizes I took a second to thank all the poor dudes who come out to volunteer in the cold every year so the race can happen, and the ladies broke out into applause and cat calls again. “This is actually the first year the racers have outnumbered the volunteers!” Laughter and more whistling.







I took a couple minutes to go over the prize table; the long list included: multiple Chrome bags and tool rolls, a certificate for a pair of DZR shoes, a Surly women’s wool jersey, Analog Forest’s Sparkle Pony jersey, jerseys and shorts/bibs from Bicycle Times, Dirt Rag, Aerotech; a 10 pack of spin classes from Steel Revolution, wind jackets, road shoes, a giant pile of comic books from Phantom of the Attic, lots of goodies like locks, lights, computers, saddles, pumps, tires etc from The Appalacian Bicycle Racing Association; many saddle bags, bells, a slew of super cute handmade bikey candles from North Ave Candle company, adorable Garbella garments and handmade pins, passes to the Wheel Mill, a pile of socks, a Bike Pgh membership in a bottle, $300 in gift certificates to Free Ride, winter gear, bike magazine subscriptions, many flasks, tons of toe clips and a helmet from Iron City Bikes, La Prima Espresso coffee, random fun from the Mattress Factory, about a billion T Shirts and water bottles, and more. I mentioned the comped entry donated to the NEOCX Brooklyn race, and clarified “Brooklyn…Ohio!” Alex K asked where Brooklyn Ohio was and some dude quipped “How do you ride a bike and not know about Brooklyn??” She turned around and snapped “Listen this is NOT the day to be mansplaining to me!” Ha!











And, of course, the winner of the whole she-bang took home a Chrome Coveted Jersey. First time alley-cat racer Elise R had barely forced herself out into the cold and anticipated being miserable, but lit up beaming as she took the first place prize to racous applause. As Christina G mentioned later, it sure was satisfying to see a lady rocking a Coveted Jersey she totally earned.







Her new La Prima teammate Josie took second place by a few seconds







Franky actually dragged herself out on a hobbling mtb injury to grab third place! I’m in awe of how hard she killed it through the cold and suffering.



hobbling out of the crowd





stoked on her new chrome bag





Angela came in fourth place and Victoria V fell in love with the whole room as she stepped up for the 5th place spot.







From there I started called out women in waves to grab prizes. With 41 women racing, there was still enough swag to go through 2 full rounds of prize pickings, after which I stood on the ladder and started tossing goods into the crowd. Everyone who raced walked away with at least a handful of stuff, and a heart full of pride.

Women’s open podium!









Veteran Bitches’ podium











The party started for real after all the prizes had been cleared out. The studio transitioned into a dance floor with local bike advocate Julie Malice DJing and VJing with some sick visuals. Around 9:30 ALK pulled a raffle winner for the ICB ultra pink bike with the help of her teammate Megan.



it takes two

The number was called and a totally stoked Jon P rushed out to the floor and busted a move.









The party raged on, no little thanks to PBR and Left Hand Brewing.























Ben G found a paper friend and napped real good after a hard day of volunteering to be a popsicle.









The 3rd Frigid Bitch absolutely killed it. So many women came out and murdered the snowed-over streets that day. I’m always stoked anytime even a handful of ladies show up, but this year the outpouring of sincere emotional affection that I heard from so many of those that raced, many of whom I’d never met before, totally blew me away. Franky Josie and Katy all insisted the Frigid Bitch lit in them a determination to race cyclocross, many others told me they never ever would have thought they would be able to compete in something so challenging, that they had no idea there were so many women in Pittsburgh who were into riding like this, and how supportive and welcoming that community of ladies could be. They rode through obstacles like cold and snow, ice and staircases; but also anxiety, entry barriers, comfort zone inertia, and self-doubt. One racer from Baltimore gushed that this race did more to excite her sister about riding in one day than anything had managed in years. I can’t possibly iterate how incredible it was to be a part of all of those experiences. On top of that, the amazing support I consistently see year after year from the bike dudes of Pittsburgh melts my ice queen heart. The ladies who came all the way from New York couldn’t stop telling me how incredible it is to see a community of guys whole-heartedly support the women who ride in their city. Can’t give enough kudos.Thanks to all the kick ass ladies who came out to race, to the volunteers who routinely freeze to death for me every year, to Ben G for always covering the worst checkpoints and bringing a whole box of hand warmers, Tim D for the Romeo St fire pit, Andy K for bringing hot dogs; all the out of towners who traveled to race and support, especially Kristina and Christina for hauling down from NYC, Julie Malice for DJ/VJing, Scott K for handling the stuff that fell through the cracks.Thanks to Rick H for driving the sag car and putting together the first ever Frigid Bitch video compilation.Thanks to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette for sending out a photographer and putting us in the paper.And of course, a major sincere heartfelt thank you to all our sponsors! Without whom I would have never been able to pull this off!Check out the pre and post race discussion on the facebook event page.Jonesing for more photos? There’s a whole slew in the Pittsburgh Babes on Bikes 2016 Frigid Bitch photo album.2015 results.2014 results.





































































See you next year!