Ruth Winder hung up her competitive road wheels in 2021 after eight years as a pro, but only three months after her final event, the UCI Road World Championships, she accepted a challenge for gravel and mountain bike racing. Hello Life Time Grand Prix.
Making the cut in the invitation-only, 60-rider field for the off-road, six race series was welcome news over the winter for the accomplished roadie. The top 10 men and top 10 women would share in a $250,000 prize purse at the finale in Arkansas, Big Sugar Gravel. Winder said it gave her “so much excitement to ride and race a bike”.
“I haven’t been training much, really, this year,” Winder said as the series concluded. “I still ride my bike, but just nothing structured. So I never really know how I’m going to feel in a race, which is really odd for me because I’ve been a coached athlete since I was very young. And since I’m not [coached] any more, it’s an odd feeling.”
Winder was not in contention for the top prize in the Life Time Grand Prix series by the time Big Sugar Gravel rolled to a halt. However, she has referred to herself as a race horse when she pins on a number, so she got a fast start. But a gravel race is an endurance event, so half-way through the 104-mile contest Winder’s big lead in Big Sugar dissolved like sweetener in a cup of coffee.
“I was feeling so good. And then I just exploded a little bit,” Winder told Cyclingnews after the race lightheartedly. “No mechanical. I bonked, hard.”
Ruth stole away on a solo effort after 20 miles of small-pack racing across the white, gnarly gravel of unkept, narrow roads and paths in the rolling hills of the Ozarks mountains. She carried a 4:40 gap through the first checkpoint at mile 37.7 in Pineville, Missouri.
By the time she passed by the second and final checkpoint Whistling Springs Brewery, with 31 miles to go, the chasers became the leaders and Winder had slipped to fifth place. She said it was the refuelling of her body over a long distance that went wrong.
“I’ve never just used gels in a race, ever, actually. And although I felt like I kept on top of that, I feel like I [should have] used hard food.”
She would continue to lose momentum and finish 17th. But she did finish. Winder admitted she has not kept a regular training regime this year and has not adapted to the off-road events that require five or more hours of focus and physical effort.
“I think I get super caught up in the moment and I want to go as…
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