Carden King’s (Boulder Junior Cycling) bike handling prowess, riding through a muddy off-camber section that forced many riders his age and much older off the bike, was the deciding factor in the Junior Men’s 9-10 race. King tackled some of the hardest conditions of this year’s National Championships as the continual rains turned the dirt to greasy mud and made the race quite an adventure and test of perseverance for many young racers.
We took a look at King’s white, unbranded, mud-packed mystery bike after the race. King's bike was built up part-by-part together with his dad over last winter. The young racer had to do "service hours" in the form of extra chores to earn, and effectively "own" the race-worthy bike. Use the arrows to navigate through the pictures of Carden King's winning ride, and see our ever-growing list of 2015 Nationals winning bikes here.
Among the immediately noticeable upgrades to King’s build is a first generation Ritchey Carbon WCS fork. Our reviews have revealed this fork to be comfortable and chatter-prone, but King avoids much chatter with a Tektro 926A mini v-brake up front (the same brake we picked for Cyclocross Magazine’s famous Cheap Bike project). Dampening the hits, particularly on a rough course, can be helpful for the light racer.
The Ritchey WCS first-generation carbon cyclocross fork is definately not a stock item. © Cyclocross Magazine
