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So this wasn’t todays ride but the most recent one. I managed to rent a bike on vacation while in Croatia on the island of Brac. I snapped a lot of photos but I don’t really want to spam the thread.
I tried gravel biking for the first time, it was FUCKING ROUGH with all the elevation and heat. Really should have started earlier. By the time I reached pavement again for the big climb I was exhausted, out of water, and seriously longing to be on a road bike. On the way back I took a spill at low speed, but came out okay with some minor road rash despite eating dirt. Helmet did its job and I didn’t lose a tooth, the tires could have been in better condition I felt but user error was 90% of it. I felt pretty guilty about the minor cosmetic damage - left GRX shifter got scratched up on the hood and lever. I might have dinged the chain stay too- went over some large rocks in the unpaved segments without thinking. Perhaps if the clutch was engaged it would have been fine but I honestly wasn’t expecting it and never had to fiddle with one before. Maybe I was thinking if it was necessary the rental place would have it engaged by default, but honestly I didn’t even know GRX had one at the time or forgot about it. I was surprised they didn’t have any protection on it any case, thinking about it.