diff --git a/router/router.go b/router/router.go
index 123bdf199..f0da6a74c 100644
--- a/router/router.go
+++ b/router/router.go
@@ -90,6 +90,12 @@ func (self *Router) MetricsRegistry() metrics.UsageRegistry {
 }
 
 func (self *Router) Channel() channel2.Channel {
+	// if we're just starting up, we may be nil. wait till initialized
+	// The initial control channel connect has a timeout, so if that timeouts the process will exit
+	// Once connected the control channel will never get set back to nil. Reconnects happen under the hood
+	for self.ctrl == nil {
+		time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
+	}
 	return self.ctrl
 }
 
diff --git a/router/xgress/ordering_test.go b/router/xgress/ordering_test.go
index 6c7f77fcf..f76919fd9 100644
--- a/router/xgress/ordering_test.go
+++ b/router/xgress/ordering_test.go
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ func Test_Ordering(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}()
 
-	timeout := time.After(10 * time.Second)
+	timeout := time.After(20 * time.Second)
 
 	req := require.New(t)
 	for i := 0; i < msgCount; i++ {
diff --git a/tests/link_test.go b/tests/link_test.go
index b91607dee..89c77a1b9 100644
--- a/tests/link_test.go
+++ b/tests/link_test.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build apitests
+
 package tests
 
 import (