Ruth Winder hung up her competitive road bike wheels in 2021 after eight years as a pro, but just three months after her last event, the UCI Road World Championships, she accepted the challenge of racing gravel and mountain bikes. The Hello Lifetime Grand Prix

invitation-only, 60-rider off-road six-race series was welcome winter news for the accomplished roadie. The top 10 men and top 10 women will share $250,000 in prize money at the finale, the Big Sugar Gravel in Arkansas. Winder said he was "very excited to get on the bike and race."

"I haven't trained much this year," he said. 'I'm still on the bike, but I haven't done anything planned. So I have no idea how I'm going to feel in the race. It's really weird for me because I've been coached since I was a little kid. I don't get coached anymore, so it's a weird feeling."

Winder was not in contention for the top prize in the Lifetime Grand Prix Series when Big Sugar Gravel stopped. However, she was off to a fast start, as she described herself as being like a racehorse when she put the pin on her number. But gravel racing is an endurance race, and by the middle of the 104-mile contest, Winder's big lead in the Big Sugar had melted away like sweetener in a cup of coffee.

"I felt really good. And then I kind of exploded," Winder told Cycling News breezily after the race. It wasn't mechanical. I crashed hard."

Ruth rode away solo after 20 miles in a small group on a white, snaggy gravel road of unmaintained, narrow roads and trails in the rolling hills of the Ozark Mountains. She maintained a 4:40 minute gap to the first checkpoint at mile 37.7 in Pineville, Missouri.

By the time she passed Whistling Springs Brewery, the second and final checkpoint with 31 miles to go, the pack was in the lead and Winder was back in fifth place. She said that long-distance resupply had gone awry.

"I've never actually used just gels in a race. And I felt like I kept on top of it, but I feel like I [needed to use] hard food."

She continued to lose momentum and finished 17th. However, she did finish the race. Winder admitted that she has not trained regularly this year and has not adapted to off-road competitions, which require more than five hours of concentration and stamina.

"I think I get caught up in the moment and want to run as hard as I can. I'm really new to these long-distance races. I think I got a little bit out of shape after three and a half hours."

During her career as a professional road racer, she has won the Redlands Classic, the Jo Martin stage race, the De Brabante Pile, a stage at the Giro Donne, a stage at the Tour de l'Ardèche, and the Tour Down Under overall. He also wore the Stars and Stripes jersey at the 2019 US Pro Road Championships. Winder posted a short synopsis on his Instagram page, "I'm good at 3.5 hour bike races, but not 6 hours."

Winder kicked off his gravel career this spring by winning the snow and mud covered Old Man Winter Rally in Colorado.

However, he crashed and DNF'd on a Fuego 80K MTB at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. He then missed Unbound due to a COVID-19 seizure. He then finished 4th in Tushar in Utah, good for 3rd in the Grand Prix.

He did well at the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, finishing 13th, and at the Chequamegon 40 MTB, finishing 9th, but did not have enough remaining series races to finish in the top 10 for the prize money.

"But in the end I think I did really well. But in the end I think I did really well. I didn't have high expectations for myself, so it was a fun race," Winder said of finishing the Off-Road Series in Arkansas and finishing 14th overall.

"I think I learned how to measure my effort going forward. If I do this gravel again next year, I think I'll train more."