Kopsis

Getting away from flat bars is mainly about adding hand positions for more comfort on long rides. Non-flat bars often have the side benefit of offering a position or two that is a little more aerodynamic.

If your fork has a good lockout, then rigid is just about dropping weight.

My advice is do some rides on what you have, then make changes to fix anything that causes discomfort or slows you down. Cyclists seem to want to boil everything down to a simple formula for what works. But with gravel riding it's highly individual and what makes a world of difference for one rider can be a complete don't care for another. Evolving/improving/personalizing your ride (based on what you want, not what someone says you should have) is supposed to be part of the fun.

Spoonrobot 

I've got two gravel events this weekend. Both are pretty flat and it hasn't rained hardly a drop here so I'll be on my cross bike with 40c Happy Medium tires. Pretty excited as this bike is very fast, seems to "plane" (lol) in a way that my other bikes haven't.



On my drop-bar 26" hardtail, I really like dropbars for the multiple hand positions and the different ride feel. Drop bars just make me feel like I'm really fast and a "racer" so it's more fun for me with drops versus a flat bar. I will say flat bars are way better for the rougher descents during the winter races but I've not decided if I want to swap back. Alt-bars would probably feel about the same for racing-ness and hand position but you definitely want to read a bunch of reviews and maybe try to test some before committing to purchase as I found the geometry of each bar can be so specific to overall set-up being comfortable it's hard to just plug-n-play like drop bars and road bikes.

In my strava-based testing the suspension fork didn't really make a difference in speed as long as it could be locked out. It's extra weight but not really much in the overall picture, at least for me.

fietsbob

I Expect, you dont get off , shoulder the bike and run up hills when it is faster than gearing down and staying on the bike, Right?

in Cyclo cross the race bikes don't have low gears , because Lap times matter more than climbing ease.

Spoonrobot 

Depends on the course. Some of the gravel races down here have a climb or two where it's safer to run up and not significantly slower. I also prefer to run most of the creek crossings since I get less wet that way. The race tomorrow has a powerline climb and some singletrack sections that cross creeks that I plan to dismount and run but mostly because they're so washed out it's not fun to ride on a rigid bike.

My bike is set-up with a 36/34 low gear so it's got pretty decent climbing chops for our area. I've never done a cyclocross race, I prefer my riding in circles for time to be done on the velodrome or in the woods on an MTB.