Ok, pixy reporting back on the Mt Snow gearing experiment....
I took a practice lap with gears and 32x25 and felt good with both. I noticed a few pros racing in the pro fields on SS with small chain rings. Looked like 22/24 x 17/18ish. 22x18 is a tad lighter than 32x25.
The conditions were a bit more muddy by race day, but I stuck with 32x25 reguardless. I felt good on my first lap, but the wet conditions forced me to stay seated, and on lap 2 I had to walk the top of a few climbs that were greasy. Walking breaks my mental stride, so I think I would have been better with the small chain ring, but I made due with what I had and climbed my heart out where I could, trying to not give in.
It was pretty grueling, but well worth the efforts, and I had a chance to dable in the pro field. Pretty cool experience overall, but I don't plan to do this all the time.
And to answer this ...
Are you pulling tree stumps from the earth??
Yes. It was hard to see what you running into with all that mud. At one point I did stop to remove some muddy wood looking debris that may very well have been a tree stump.