All the 2023 S&M CX Surprises You Didn't Know You Were Waiting For...!!

Hello friends!

This 2023 season marks our seventh as a complete cyclocross team dedicated to the long-term development of PNW women in this sport. In that time, we have been through several chapters and have proudly stayed the course, attracting more women to the program, standing by those we’ve already rostered, and standing by cyclocross as the purest form of racing in cycling. The form of racing that fosters so much tangible development in cycling—development of character, development of fundamentals, development of athletic versatility, development of personal joy, and development of dedication to process.

As we enter the 2023 season, we’re proud to announce that our roster will include eight PNW women this season, staffed and led by coach & co-manager Erik Tonkin as well as myself, Brenna Wrye-Simpson, co-manager, mechanic, and rider. Our roster retains me (Elite, Portland), Sophie Russenberger (Elite, Bend), Madeline Stover (Portland, first-year U23), Rachel Geiter (Elite, Walla Walla, WA), Allison Halpin (Elite, Bend), and Annie Davis-Usher (Elite, Portland). We’re thrilled to announce the addition of Jenna Lingwood (Elite, Portland) to our roster, a mainstay in our PNW racing community, and someone truly passionate about the sport.

And… perhaps the biggest big hype that we’re dying to share is that…

Lil’ Clara Honsinger is returning to Team S&M CX this season!!!

To me, it only feels right to have her back. Our initial three-season chapter of 2017 to 2020 was one of steady progress for all of us, but most obviously hers, as she steadily studied the game and consistently landed more domestic podiums, then taking her first U23 National title in 2018, then taking her first World Cup podium in Iowa City in 2019, and then of course her 2019 Elite national title while repping the Orange & Blue, a truly iconic day. It’s her first of now three titles, and one that meant so much with its PNW location in Lakewood, WA, in front of all of our friends and family. Immediately after that win, we (Erik & I) worked alongside her and a whole passel of incredible CX riders and staff in Europe under the umbrella of USA Cycling. Two days after landing and five days after her Nats win, she very nearly landed a podium at our first international World Cup in Namur. We then rallied through a full Kerstperiode, more World Cups, and World Championships in Switzerland. We came home together in February 2020 with murmurings of this new virus COVID echoing through the airports, and shortly after we supported her decision to continue her career with our friends at Cannondale-CyclocrossWorld.Com. Her accomplishments since then speak volumes (winning Koppenburg and landing 4th at 2021 Worlds, just to name a few), and her growth as an athlete and worldly human are wonderful to behold. She speaks to the fact that the “team” model aided her in her original development, and by coming back to S&M this season, she wants very much to invest in this energy and structure. In her own words:

I’m back!

I remember when I first asked Erik if I could join S&M. I was a freshman in college and he had generously offered to give me a ride in the old Kona van to Ninkrossi. I wonder what he was thinking when I posed the question—a teenager with a bike racing obsession was a pretty great unknown. But I was certain that S&M was the place for me. I had been following S&M for a while, watching local icons Beth Ann Orton and Megan Chinburg travel to races across the country, reading old race reports of how Rhonda Mazza had placed second at Nationals in toe-clips and running shoes, and re-watching Transitions 2 to find the scene where Erik’s Belgian fan club sings praises about his beard. This team seemed to carry a passion for racing and an easy-going character I wanted to be surrounded by.

So, this past summer, as I was pondering where I wanted to go next, the move was clear. Clouded by uncertainty of European teams and limited US programs, S&M was grounded and driven. The idea of returning made me feel giddy with excitement and genuinely happy. I’m really grateful the answer was yes each time.

Tonkin shared his own thoughts about our central intentions as a program:

We spent the entire 2016-17 season field- and stress-testing our idea. We decided to commit and, seven years later, here we are, still standing. Our work continues, and we hope to do it with class. We invest in a proper 'team structure' because our program is ours—it's not a cult-of-personality.

We continue to believe in the excellence of cylocross and the worth of the team model within the sport. Riding the wrong bike on the weirdest surfaces in the worst weather, and do it as quickly as you can, but do it in a visible circuit, where everyone can share your successes and processes with you. Just keep moving forward.