Cayden Parker
Hometown: Hot Springs
Occupation: Rider for U23 Bear National Team, four-time national champion
THE BIKE: This is my 2023 race bike, a Trek Supercaliber 9.9, size medium-large. It comes in this fancy crimson color, I really like it.
Photography: Kai Caddy
THE DRIVETRAIN: It’s the fully wireless SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS electronic drivetrain.
THE WHEELS: It’s got Bontrager XXX wheels, complete with custom Team USA name sticker on the front valve stem.
THE GRIPS: They’re custom ESI Bear National Team pink grips for a little flair.
THE DROPPER POST: It’s a Fox Transfer SL dropper. It’s super super light. There’s pretty much no reason not to run a dropper post any more. It weighs hardly any more than a regular seatpost anyway and you get way more confidence with it. So I run that thing at every single race I go to.
THE POWER METER: I’ve got the SRAM Quarq power meter. That way I can track all my data, all my rides. Even if I’m just going out to the coffee shop. I know exactly what I’m doing and can get data from that. Geeking about the data is more my coach’s job. So I let him do that. But it’s there whenever he needs it. And he’s happy about that, for sure.
Parker, 18, is in his first season as an elite under-23 racer. He finished second at the U.S. Pro Cup cross country race in Vail Lake, California, in early April and followed that up with a fourth and 10th place finish at the US Pro Cup cross country races in Fayetteville later in the month. He sat down with us during a recent training block back home in Hot Springs while prepping for the UCI World Cup races this summer in Europe.
