Cyclocross Skills discussion

For those that race cyclocross...can you recommend a good baseline of gear that would be needed to race.  I don't need the top stuff...but decent.

In comparison to road racing, I would say something like a CAAD10 with 105/Rival, 105 pedals, decent carbon soled shoes, and GP4000S tires.  You could get away with far less, but still good race quality all around.

So...what frames provide the best value?  I'm assuming 105/Rival is plenty for CX.  What style of pedals do you guys prefer?  Are there CX specific shoes, or are standard MTB shoes fine?  As someone experienced in road racing, what are the biggest differences I need to look for when shopping for CX gear?

The biggest difference is that less is usually more in CX.  When you start racing CX you will break things....  I went through 1 derailleur last year, plus several spokes in a wheel set, and 1 derailleur this year already.  I am sure that everybody that raced a full CX season last year broke something.  It is nice to be able to purchase a rival and hanger for $100 bucks versus SRAM Red or Dura-Ace.  Wheels and tires are something you will really start to pay attention to after a few races.  Tubulars, so you can run low pressures, will be where you end up spending your money.  

Decent pair of MTB shoes and whatever pedals work for you.  I have always prefered Ritcheys?   

Looks good to me.  I still have that stupid stutter step before remount.  I just need to do some focused barrier training.

What cassette is everyone running, Right now I have a 12-25, just something I had lying around.  I really could just use a 14-28 if there were such a thing.  Not going to use the 12 or 13 ever in a race, I barely ever even use the big ring other than the sprint start.

Also,  what brake pads are you guys using.  I'm thinking about putting on the swisstop green's but they're so expensive comparted to the koolstop salmon's.