woodzy, have you registered on the 3P's Cx website's own forum?
There's lots of discussion on there.
Personal observations from a recreational cyclo-cross rider ( 9+ years ) who does not race:- As a newbie, under geared is better than over geared when it comes to precision bike handling over & around obstacles. Experience and increased bike fitness will allow you to up the gearing in time - I'm now using middle ring / middle sprocket in situations where I used to be on grannie ring / big sprocket.
My second hand bike came with an 11-28 (7 spd) cassette and 46/36, which was overgeared for me. I swapped to a MTB 44/32/22 chainset which has really suited me.