Originally Posted by grolby

Yes, you can ride that terrain on a cyclocross bike, if you have good skills. But WTF does that actually tell you? The guy in the video would still be capable of riding the same terrain faster and doing the same tricks more easily on the more appropriate tool for the job. It's fairly pointless to talk about whether or not you CAN ride a certain type of bike somewhere; generally, you can, and I've ridden plenty of MTB singletrack trails on my cyclocross bike. If the trail is relatively smooth and fast without lots of technical obstacles, you'll be faster on the cross bike. Most of the time, though, you have to pick your line much more carefully to avoid pinch flats and keep traction. And that slows you down a lot. And big drop-offs you wouldn't think twice about on the sleekest, twitchiest hardtail XC mountain bike become a lot scarier on a cyclocross bike.

All that said, of course there's overlap, and it all depends upon the technical skill of the rider. Personally, I'm a better bike handler than most 'cross-racing roadies, so I tend to be able to ride stuff they can't, but I'm far worse than a typical mountain biker, and they'll float easily over trails that challenge me.