Totally agree, really good article. You know, when you look at history and say "this person/side was lucky to win", I'm not so sure that's the case. With adequate preparation and enough attention to detail and caution, you're very likely to have a mild/medium success even if you don't completely break out. For instance - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Masamune Masamune fought on the winning side in the final part…
A nice article, yes, and +1 for mostly being about cyclocross. I presume the author isn't the guy bunny hopping barriers on the MTB...