First ride with my gravel bike!

First ride with my Checkpoint ALR5. Thanks for everyone who commented on my last post showing it. Your advice were extremely helpful.

Weather was – 3º Celsius with some heavy gusts and scattered flurries along my 20 Km ride.

So… I got a hang of the shifters and using the drop bars pretty quick almost had no issues shifting and accidentally applying the brakes, as before.

The bike feels great. Riding it feels a lot better than my old Giant Talon, which is an XC MTB frame. I got to say that the gearing put more strain on my legs than the Talon's. It's good for building them muscles. On top of that, the difference in rolling resistance and weight is out of this planet. I was very surprised. Another thing was stability. I was concerned about the tire width and man, that bike did felt very stable and under control for a fairly casual ride over light snow and cleaned paths.

My only complaint was some slight discomfort behind my neck when I was some 16 Km in. I don't know if that is my lack of experience with gravel, positioning or the fit itself.