Forget the Pros, Two Tandem Bikes Had the Best Sprint Finish at Mid South Gravel

Energy begets energy.

At its heart, that is the inertia that is guiding Mid South Gravel as thousands of people from around the country and around the world have made the March trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, a yearly cycling tradition.

Splitting up the days, canceling the race for a year, or moving the finish did nothing to change that. In fact, it may have injected something more exciting into the mixture, elevating the day even more. People lingered longer, amateurs raced faster, and the racing still provided a spectacle.

No spectacle captured the event more than the sprint to the line to decide the win of the co-ed tandem category. In a race that is known for its eclectic vibe, the showdown rolled so many of those factors into one, as the two teams tried to duke it out through a crowd of single riders finishing up the 50-mile race.

Two extra long bikes with twice the power of a single rider barreling to the line, with the team of Jared Gab and Hannah Glatter squeaking out a win against Corey Smith and Michelle Duffy after a 100-mile-long back and forth battle.

“I was just looking at the corners and making sure we took them safely, because there’s still a lot of responsibility as the pilot of a tandem,” Jared Gab, the pilot of the winning team, told Velo after the sprint.

“I was okay letting them take the last corner first and just to see how they were handling their bike and what their sprint was looking like. It was kind of a messy finish because there were 50 milers in the chute with us that we had to avoid.”

From behind the finish, the sprint was a magnificent sight. Or, at least the direct aftermath was, as murmurs rippled through the crowd of people gathered behind the finish to greet the throngs of finishers crossing the line of the 50 and 100 mile events, collecting their hugs from race director Bobby Wintle along the way.

“I cannot believe that it took what it took to get the win and come down into that sprint,” Michelle Duffy said after the sprint, as the crowd of enthusiastic, and slightly befuddled people congratulated the two duos. “There are a few tight turns into the finish line and unfortunately, we had to slow down with the crowd at the end of this road here. We lost all momentum coming in, but it was just an all out sprint to the finish and kudos to Hannah and Jared they got us at the line.

“We couldn’t ask for a better ending. Wish we could cross first, but it was super special. Tandems have never been the talk of the town.”

A year of preparation led to the final showdown

Ultimately, the battle was a year in the making with the two teams planning on squaring off for over a year. Last year the two duos made their way to Stillwater for the 2025 Mid South only for it to be canceled due to wildfires sweeping through the region the day before the event.

Nevertheless, the extra year of prep ultimately led to a heightened competition, where both teams had extra time to refine their power and technique.

“We were checking on each other’s Strava and getting in each other’s heads, so it was really fun and friendly,” Glatter said.

“We know what they’re capable of and how evenly matched this was going to be, but what I didn’t realize was that we were going to be riding together the whole day. It came down to a sprint finish, and it’s not like one of us was playing catch up.”

What makes the tandem battle interesting on another level is that Duffy is the marketing director for the Life Time Grand Prix. She, more than most people, knows what goes into the experience on both sides of the racing.

And there is a reason why she and her husband are using Mid South as the battleground for the showdown: they met at the finish line years prior.

Since then, as their relationship has grown, tandem riding has become a bedrock part of it, even if it is just part of their lives as professionals and cyclists. During Life Time events, for instance, Duffy is busy running so much of what the world sees in terms of media coverage of the Life Time Grand Prix. Smith, who is a physical therapist by trade, also is busy on Life Time race days as he himself is an avid solo racer.

Mid South is one of the few races where ingredients are right for them to come together and do it together as a tandem.

“It’s definitely different because you’re definitely going to go slower on the hills,” Smith said of the experience racing tandem. “The weight of the bike and the weight of the people just make it a hell of a lot harder on the hills. But you can go faster on the flats and faster on the downhills.

“It’s hard to stay with a group compared to a solo bike. You’re doing a lot of yo-yo-ing because go slow up the hill, pass them on down hill. So it’s different, but it’s one of my favorite things to do with my life.”

Likewise, Glatter and Gab forged their own paths in cycling first, before taking on the tandem challenge together. For them, there was also the added wrinkle of a romance building through that tandem riding.

“We started riding before the relationship happened, we were COVID riding buddies, and we rode together a lot,” Gab said.

“For my 40th birthday, Hannah borrowed a tandem from friends of ours. and we did my birthday miles on a tandem. That was both of our first times ever riding one. We had so much fun on that ride that within 10 days, we had our own tandem.”

“And then a couple of months later, I moved in and we’re still together, still riding our tandem.”

Tandems fit into cycling in an interesting way. Seeing them on the road is rare. Seeing them in a race is even more so. Yet, as gravel has grown, tandems have begun to creep their way back into the cycling community. The tandems of old, called by many divorce bikes, seem to be changing their stripes, one sprint finish at a time.