Sorry, about your friends. I rolled through the weeds there. I was shocked how huge the stones were. Being at the bottom of a descent with tons of riders early didn't give much time to react.
I've always had issues with my current cx frame. Why I'm trying to figure out a replacement gravel frame. I do like the huge tire clearance on the g21 but not sure I'll use it. I ran the blue 38mm gk ss for 10x. If I did wet gravel rides I'd be happy to jump on the g21 for all the clearance not to cut up the stays.
I've been going back and forth about using this frame for CX. And quite frankly it's "doable" but also complete overkill. I, like you, will never require anything close to 53c tires.
My VeloBuild 177 and Dengfu R12 both can accommodate 32c tires which I could use alternatively for CX, but I think it would be a tight fit clearance wise. Just trying to avoid building another bike this season unless it's a TT.