Hannah Glatter on Riding the Great Plains, Choosing Community & Making Your Own Rules
episode
Detours: Bikepacking, Ultra-Cycling and Adventures by Bike
52 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What inspired Hannah to attempt the 3,000‑mile Great Plains Gravel Route?
A lot of this ride was just finding, like, what kind of relationship do I want to have with my bicycle? What's going to help me enjoy this ride more became the question. What are the goals of my ride? And am I staying true to that? Am I still challenging my body? Am I still challenging my mind? Am I still sharing the story well? And if all of those things are true, like, I should still be proud of what I'm doing.
We often set out on these big adventures with a picture in our heads of what we're going to get from them. And the reality is they almost never deliver that thing. Instead, they hand us something else entirely. And that's exactly what makes them worth doing. Hannah Glatter rode the brand new Great Plains gravel route this past summer. It runs roughly 3,000 miles from the Texas desert to the Canadian border through states that people love to write off as flyover. She covered around 100 miles a day for 36 days. And before this, she had never bike-packed more than a few days at a time. In this episode of Detours, we talk about choosing community, overcoming it alone, letting go of who you think you should be as an adventurer, learning to be proud of our accomplishments for the genuine feats that they are, and building a life you love so much you don't need an escape from it.
My name is Mel Webb, and this is Detours, a show about bikepacking, ultra-endurance, and the many different ways people find freedom on two wheels. We share the highs, the lows, and of course, the detours along the way. This show is made possible by Albion Cycling, clothing and accessories designed to help you stay outside for longer. You can get 15% off your next order with Albion with our code DETOURS15. All right, on to today's episode with Hannah.
straight back into work? So I finished on a Tuesday, got back on Wednesday, and then I started working the following Monday. So I did have a little bit of just reset time with my boyfriend and getting to do some easier weekend rides before getting back to work. Yeah.
Were you straight back on the bike after it was 36 days, right?
Yeah, I did like maybe a 60 mile ride that weekend on the back of the tandem though. So I ride tandem with my partner, Jared, and usually I contribute a lot. I was not contributing very much this first couple rides back.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Have you raced together on the tandem? You're nodding your head. Yeah.
So a couple years ago, our first race together was Gravel Worlds, the 150 mile. And then last year we did, no, or sorry, earlier this year, we did the Mid-South 100, which actually came down to a sprint finish between the top two tandems. What? We averaged like over 18 miles an hour for 100 miles. And it came down to the finish chute. We got him by like a second. It was wild. There's actually a Velo News article about it out there somewhere.
Oh my gosh. I don't know why in my head, but I just feel like it would be really, really hard to sprint on a tandem.
We never practiced it. In my head, I was like, I knew our competition. Corey and Michelle are amazing. They're very strong cyclists, both of them. And I was like, man, what if it came... Nah, that's not going to happen.
How did Hannah plan and prepare for a month‑long, 100‑mile‑per‑day bikepacking adventure?
And then we realized, okay, there's no more hills left to break this up. We've got a couple flat corners left. I think it's going to happen. And I don't know. It's a little bit like when you stand up to climb, but you're just leaned forward and the bike is just flexing like crazy. I felt like a noodle, but... It was, I don't know, you just go into that primal mode and somehow your body figures it out. And luckily we stayed up and didn't mow over any of the shorter distance riders.
Yeah, I'm just thinking about like two people standing and then like, I just don't know why in my head I feel like it's such a ridiculous thing. Do you know Rachel Wills by any chance? Yes, yes. I'm really good friends with Rachel. She's also done stuff with her partner on a tandem.
Yeah, it's so fun. We both have the same experience that it was something that brought our partnerships together.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What inspired Hannah to attempt the 3,000‑mile Great Plains Gravel Route?
0:03–4:03
2
How did Hannah plan and prepare for a month‑long, 100‑mile‑per‑day bikepacking adventure?
4:03–9:13
3
Why did Hannah choose to ride a tandem with her partner and how did racing together shape the experience?
9:13–15:39
4
What role did community and unexpected help play during the ride (friends, mechanics, fellow riders)?
15:39–22:49
5
How did Hannah handle equipment failures, bike maintenance, and weight‑management on the trail?
22:49–29:31
6
What mental and physical challenges (headaches, back pain, boredom, weather) did she face and how did she overcome them?
29:31–37:54
7
What were the biggest takeaways after finishing the route – pride, post‑ride blues, and life changes?
37:54–45:02
8
Which sections of the Great Plains route does Hannah recommend revisiting and why?
45:02–52:45
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Detours: Bikepacking, Ultra-Cycling and Adventures by Bike
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Maddy Nutt's Record Breaking Ride at Traka 560
Women of Tour Divide & Hannah's Great Plain Ride