Only problem I had was bottlenecks. FNSS a couple of yrs back in MK.
all the geared racers dropped to granny and slowed down, usually I could have stood & stamped up the short steep climbs, but too many bodies moving slowly ahead meant cadence dropped below a point I could keep moving forward – I had to step off & run with the bike. Very frustrating.
Was better once the laps opened out a bit, but still had times when my riding was compromised by riders who passed me on the flat that i then caught on the climbs (not that I’m a great climber, but you know how it is on SS)
That said: it was my one & only short track race, I didn’t really enjoy it for any number of reasons so this might be a feature of all short track races geared SS or otherwise.
Or perhaps I was doing it wrong.