Best of 2026

Results Are In

Hey friends - welcome back for a second year of the GIVE UP Best of Awards: Pittsburgh's ONLY annual awards program created purely out of spite after the City Paper decided in 2025 to remove the category from their awards that I won in 2024. Here is how this works:

  • Nominations are open between Wednesday September 23 and Saturday October 3
  • Top nominees from each category will continue on to voting
  • Voting will be open from Sunday October 4 to Tuesday October 13th
  • Awards will be presented at the GIVE UP End of Season Party

Some rules:

  • Please don't make me regret doing this
  • Please be nice (don't be mean spirited)
  • Please do not take this too seriously
  • You can nominate / vote once in each category every day.

Have fun and I will see you at the awards ceremony at the End of Season party October 16th

xoxo,
bingo

Browse the nominees below — sign in to nominate and vote for your favorites.

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Best Local Non-Profit

So many great non-profits to choose from in this town! Some of them are even bike related!

winners

  1. Free Ride
  2. WMN BikePgh
  3. POGOH

Most Likely to Show Up To A Bike Ride

For some people, when they RSVP to a group ride, they will show up even in the event of catastrophe. This is the place to recognize them.

winners

  1. Furda
  2. Sonja
  3. Bingo

Least Likely to Show Up to a Bike Ride

When some people say they're coming for a group ride, you don't necessarily believe them. We love these people, but we're not waiting for them at the start.

winners

  1. Logan
  2. Bart
  3. J Doom

Best Local Annual Cycling Event

I promise I will not rig this for TBC 2026

winners

  1. Trash Bag Century
  2. Pride Critical Mass
  3. POGOH Tour de Donut

Best Bike Photographer

If it weren't for pictures of bikes leaning on things, what would we need Instagram for?

winners

  1. Ben Peoples
  2. Jason Furda
  3. Walt

Best Place to Eat After a Bike Ride

A Spak buffalo seitan salad to go fits perfectly in the basket of a POGOH. Do with that what you will.

winners

  1. East End Brewing
  2. Sidelines
  3. Sheetz

Best Bike / Kit Color Coordination

Those cowards at the Pittsburgh City Paper don't do "Best Dressed" anymore, so this will have to do

winners

  1. Walt Haim
  2. J. Doom
  3. Catherine Wacha

Friendliest Bicyclist

There isn't even a hint of irony in this, I just think we should all give an award to somebody who is really nice to everybody.

winners

  1. Adam Cary
  2. Mary O'Connell
  3. Miche

Best Regular Group Ride

There are so many great regular rides in this town: Critical Mass, Whatever Wednesday, Coffee Outside, dare I even say GIVE UP Friday Coffee? I'm leaving out a bunch but tell us what your favorite is.

winners

  1. Critical Mass
  2. GIVE UP Friday Coffee Ride
  3. Coffee Outside

Most Bike-Friendly Local Brewery

I often joke that running a bike club is like 60% texting breweries to ask if we can crash their space, and it's not even really a joke. Which brewery shows up most for the bike scene?

winners

  1. East End Brewing
  2. Two Frays Brewery
  3. Trace

Best Local Bike Shop

I can go on for hours about the benefits of shopping at a locally owned bike shop, but I'll spare you that today. What's your go-to?

winners

  1. Thick Bikes
  2. Kindred
  3. Kraynick's

Favorite Bike Shop Employee

Please include a name and the shop they work at in your nominations! I have a definite favorite in mind, but I'll keep that to myself.

winners

  1. Ike
  2. Rocky
  3. Vince at Thick Bikes

Best Wreck

The word "best" might be used sarcastically here (unless some of you had wrecks that improved your life?)

winners

  1. Jason Andrews
  2. Catherine Wacha
  3. John Dummer/Hannah Obringer

Best Place to Meet Up After Critical Mass

You get back to Friendship Park after a nice jaunt around town. Your friends approach you and ask "where we going next?" What is your answer?

winners

  1. Titty Sphinx
  2. Trace
  3. 4053 Howley - In Memoriam

Best Bike-Friendly Ice Cream Stop

Ice Cream is the under-appreciated MVP of bike rides. I know everybody thinks its coffee, but if I post a coffee ride, I might get 10 people. If I post an ice cream ride, I might get 40 people. Which ice cream place do you want to go to?

winners

  1. Page's
  2. Twisters
  3. Winston's

Best Non-Alcoholic Beer Stop

A lot of folks in the bike community want to drink beers with their friends but don't want alcohol. Let's take a moment to appreciate the folks who do NA beers best. What's your pick?

winners

  1. Two frays
  2. The Soft Spot
  3. East End Pop-up

Best Mechanic

As somebody who is absolutely NOT a bike mechanic and has abandoned any delusions that I might someday be good at working on my bike, I appreciate folks who can wrench on bikes all day and not break anything. Who is the best mechanic this town has to offer?

winners

  1. Ike
  2. James Y (JimJamBMX)
  3. Cottle

Trashiest Bike

Everybody should own at least one (and preferably multiple) beater bike(s). Honestly if your daily driver is a big box store Huffy you pulled out of a river and you make it work, I feel like that's more interesting than just buying the most expensive bike because you can. Who is winning the trashy bike competition?

winners

  1. Catherine Wacha
  2. Chris FYB

Best Local Bike Club

You might think that this category will be rigged for GIVE UP, but honestly it would be legitimately funnier if we lost. Whatever happens happens.

winners

  1. GIVE UP
  2. Pittsburgh Critical Mass
  3. Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycle Club - PMTCC

Scrappiest Group Ride Leader

What makes somebody the "scrappiest" group ride leader? That's for you to decide.

winners

  1. Sonja
  2. The Average Critical Mass frontliner
  3. Catherine Wacha

Best Instagram

Instagram is legit the only way some of you interact with the internet and you know what? Sure. Hopefully you're good at it though.

winners

  1. Stolen Bikes PGH
  2. Ikes Basement Bike Shop
  3. Elliott Diamond

Best TBC 2026 Aid Station

This might be a niche category but if you rode TBC 2026, who had the best aid station?

winners

  1. Adam and Bigs
  2. Ashley's Pickle Extravaganza
  3. Kara and Miche

Most Likely to Go Hard on Coffee Outside

Some people (such as myself) bring a thermos of grocery store drip coffee to Coffee Outside. Others take the "coffee" part of Coffee Outside more seriously. Let's recognize them.

winners

  1. Adam Cary
  2. Furda
  3. Ryan Maine

Best GIVE UP Sticker Placement Location

Submit photos if you have them along with a description of where it is

winners

  1. Jeff (also shameless self-nomination)
  2. Ashley (more shameless self nomination)
  3. Waltifer (shameless self nomination)

Most Likely to be Looping

A couple laps around Friendship Park, maybe some coffee ride loops around the roundabout in station square, several trips around the observatory or even laps around the oval. Looping is a GIVE UP staple. A wise man once told me "I see a loop, I do a loop."

winners

  1. GURT (GIVE UP Racing Team)
  2. Adam Cary
  3. Ciro Black

Best Lore

The more we get to know each other, the more we learn that some of us have way more interesting backstories than you ever imagined. Who among us has the best lore? (Details are encouraged, within reason!)

winners

  1. Squid the Cat
  2. Woshe
  3. Reddit Kevin

Wild Card

Honestly, I'm just kind of curious as to what happens if we have a category with no obvious criteria. Nominate yourself. Nominate my cat Frank. Nominate a 2003 Raleigh Competition on Gatorskins. IDK lets see who or what wins

winners

  1. Kara
  2. Jeff Railsback
  3. The Kennywood Gap Trail Closure