Lil’ Clara - Soph - Bruno - Rachel - Jenna - Ali - Annie - Mad Dawg - The Caveman - Plus Our Merry Cast of Traveling Friends

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Team S&M CX is the PNW’s established women’s cyclocross program with a proven history of grassroots to elite rider development, presented by Sellwood Cycle Repair in Portland, Oregon.

Our team tagline "Working Class Cyclocross" originated from team owner Erik Tonkin's careful balance of managing and growing Sellwood Cycle Repair while racing full-time across disciplines through the ‘90s and ‘00s. Team S&M's intentional style comes out of this industrious cross-section and, coupled with a familial, intentional environment, has brought forth a strong lineage of top Pacific Northwest racers.

Team S&M CX is a women-centered cyclocross development program based out of Portland, Oregon. It is intrinsically tied to Sellwood Cycle Repair, a neighborhood bike shop known for repair and community building, directed by off-road racing legend and wily working-class bike industry Mensch, Erik Tonkin. The greater S&M team jersey has been recognized in and outside of the PNW since the 90s when Erik started taking regional riders such as Barry Wicks and Spencer Paxson (among others) to NORBA races to spread their wings while also racing his own bike and excelling. 

Sellwood Cycle Repair and Erik have long fostered a place for women in cycling and directly contributed to the talent pool and growth of women in cyclocross, road, and mountain bike racing--from sponsoring composite programs for UCI events, driving mechanical support across the country for said events, supporting individual riders tackling a calendar of targeted professional events, promoting races events that make space for women's success, and supporting regional teams and coalitions that promote women in cycling at the grassroots level. 

In 2017, the pieces fell into place to launch "Team S&M CX," a specific chapter of Team S&M that would support a core roster of talented PNW-based women, supporting them on the US UCI cyclocross circuit, setting a win at 2019 US Nationals as a long term goal, and building an environment for sustainable athletic and personal development. This founding era included then U-23 rider Clara Honsinger and Elite Beth Ann Orton, plus Brenna Wrye-Simpson, an employee of Sellwood Cycle Repair and road racer who served as the team's primary mechanic and also co-manager, alongside Erik. The rest is history.

The program has flourished over the past 7 years and is arguably most recognized for elevating Clara to the international cyclocross stage. She won her U23 title with the team in Louisville, KY in 2018, and then her first epic Elite title with S&M in 2019 at home in the PNW in Tacoma, WA in front of thousands of friends and family. That energy of that win on that weekend reinvigorated the PNW racing world, and S&M's success and visibility helped inspire yet more commitment to cyclocross within our regional scene in a time where racing events or pursuits are struggling. 

Our 2023 S&M CX roster now supports seven Elite women, including Clara and Brenna (now as a rider as well as staff member), plus one U-23 rider. We are still committed to fostering growth within women's racing in the PNW and do our part to promote events that encourage that, and we spread our particular brand of good-spirited, open-hearted PNW enthusiasm for cyclocross with the greater US and world.  

Clara Honsinger

Athlete

"Lil' Clara" grew up rallying bikes through the alleyways of her hometown, Ashland, Oregon. After moving to Portland in 2015, she was taken under the guidance of the Team S&M family and garnered greater competence in cyclocross terrain. She was successful as a U23 rider, claiming both Pan-American and National titles in the 2018 season and finishing 10th at the World Championships. For the upcoming season, she aims to demonstrate herself as a top North American elite rider and continue to study the nuances of European racing. In June 2019, she returned to school at Oregon State University where she hopes to someday finish her Health and Sciences degree. In her free time, she enjoys wandering through the community garden and reading the newspaper.

Sophie Russenberger

Athlete

Sophie joined the Team S&M CX roster in 2018 and capped her inaugural season with the ride of the year, taking bronze in the U23 US women’s championship event. She is a Bend, OR native who practically grew up on a ‘cross course. Her dirt career began with the Bend Endurance Academy racing junior MTB and CX. Aided by her Swiss/US dual-citizenship, she continued her racing education post-high school with a gap year immersion in Swiss cyclocross, including a portion of the EKZ 'Cross Series. After returning to the US, she enrolled at Bard College and earned multiple collegiate and U23 podiums at the Grand Prix of Gloucester, NBX, Northampton International, and Collegiate Nationals. In December 2019, she completed her bachelor degree in environmental studies with a minor in public health at Fort Lewis College, where she was a multi-discipline member of the cycling team.

 

Annie Davis-Usher

Athlete

While 2022 may be Annie’s first season officially in a Team S&M CX kit, she has been our steadfast teammate—just in different team jersey—since 2019. Annie grew up in Portland, OR and is an athlete at heart, through and through. She competed in many sports as a child, and was a two sport athlete at the University of Oregon (Track & Field and Golf). After college, Annie raced both as at Cat 1 cyclist and an elite triathlete. She briefly walked away from competing after having her second child, as it seemed too hard to be a mom and to compete at such a high level. Thankfully, that feeling only lasted a year. She realized that goal-setting and competition are what she craves. She found that cyclocross was a great fit for both her racing style and for her family. Annie started to get more serious with cyclocross in 2019 and started traveling with Team S&M to UCI races throughout the US. In 'the ‘21-’22 season she was able to accumulate 12 UCI points and finish 16th at Nationals. Annie spends her days balancing life with two kids, a job as an architect, drinking Coca Cola, and trying to ride her bike as much as possible.

Madeline Stover

U23 Athlete

 

Beth Ann Orton

Alum

"BAO" began mountain bike and cyclocross racing in Portland, Oregon in 2008, and has been proud to call Team S&M her family for twelve seasons. She has UCI wins to her name at the North Carolina Grand Prix, as well as multiple top five and top ten finishes, most recently at Dallas Resolution ‘Cross Cup, and Oklahoma's Ruts n' Guts CX. During the road season, Beth Ann races for Canaidan UCI program InstaFund Laprima and is recognized as a top time-trialist and domestique. She is well known in the racing community for her easy-going smile, humor, and respectful yet competitive nature. When BAO isn't racing, she's usually doing farm chores in Bend, Oregon, where she lives with her husband, family, five horses, two dogs, two cats, and a very large garden. Beth works part-time as a Physician Assistant in vascular medicine and also as a cycling coach. It bears mentioning that Beth Ann loves skiing and fishing. And misadventure.

Brenna Wrye-Simpson

Athlete, Co-Manager, Mechanic

"Bruno" originally hails from Corvallis in Oregon's picturesque Willamette Valley, where two-wheeled adventures on winding, mossy roads with alternating tree cover and sun breaks captured at least a large portion of her heart early on. In adulthood, she balances a professional road racing gig with the Salt Lake City-based DNA Pro Cycling Team while also working full-time for Sellwood Cycle Repair and Team S&M CX. On the pavement she specializes in any circuit-style race with steep, punchy features and technical elements. Working as pit boss and embracing the cyclocross course as a new outlet each September keeps every racing season fresh.

 

Jenna Lingwood

Athlete

 

Rachel Geiter

Athlete

Rachel grew up close to Team S&M headquarters in Milwaukie, OR and spent all her time riding horses. When equestrian opportunities became slim, she tried bike racing at Whitman College. Never having done an endurance sport, Rachel spent a lot of time experimenting, failing, and trying again. Like the wine in Walla Walla, WA where she currently resides, she’s gotten better with age - nabbing two top 10’s at UCI cross races in 2021 and her first elite wins on the road this summer. She enjoys learning more about science with her middle school students, home construction, and reading mystery novels.

 

Allison Halpin

Athlete

Ali found her way to cycling from downhill ski racing after a series of 3 knee surgeries put her off the snow and onto the dirt. During her last knee surgery a friend suggested spectating a cross race where Ali crutched through the snow and mud to watch bodies leap over barriers and power through the mud. She knew immediately she wanted to try cyclocross. Eleven years later, Ali is still hooked on cyclocross and now focuses solely on the discipline. She started hanging around the S&M team tent during her first UCI season in 2019 and found the team to be home and is stoked make things official in 2022! When not racing Ali directs and coaches women’s mountain bike skills camps for the Ladies AllRide all across the country. Ali loves helping people realize their potential, have breakthroughs, and smile and dance along the way! Mountain biking is her first love, but you can also find her trail running, surfing, and cooking in her free time.

Erik Tonkin

Team Owner & Co-Manager

The team is owned and operated by Erik Tonkin ( "The Caveman") of Kona Factory Team fame. Erik's naturally kind, northern Minnesotan background belies his ruthlessness on the race course. His palmares are many and varied, from driving the break at NRC road races to lead-lap finishes at Cyclocross Worlds and World Cups--but his roots are on the mountain bike.