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.
Wolf Tooth Components, along with most wide/narrow single ring manufacturers, recommend a clutch derailleur for ultimate chain security, and Carden King and his dad opted for the 10-speed SRAM XO medium cage model to handle shifting and prevent dropped chains.
Using SRAM’s XO Type 2 clutch-based mountain derailleurs for their large capacity and chain security is a trick in many mechanics back pocket for (the 10-speed) years. © Cyclocross Magazine
