Tire pressure - Noob alert

Been riding a rigid single speed 29'r MTB for the last several years exclusively, and of course am always playing around with tire pressure depending on conditions - trail riding, and pretty gnarly SoCal stuff in general.
Now I have a Surly Cross Check SS that I'm taking out for more "adventure" type rides--roads, urban, fire roads, single track--all in one outing. I've got the Surly Knard 41's on it. I'm a featherweight at around 132 lbs. Been running around 52 psi for starters. I'm very impressed with the handling in the rough, but I will say, I'm not sure what the best mindset should be as far as tire pressure. Do I err on the side of the pavement, or the rough stuff? I just go, often with no planned destination…
What do you folks do?

With a SS, your rolling resistance probably matters most in the equation. Another consideration is if you're running tubeless, you can easily lower your PSI to 25-30, but that'll make the commute to your adventure a slog. I'd say you've probably struck a good balance if you can handle the rough at 52 and you're not dying on pavement.

I run Knard 41s on my gravel bike (tubed) at 45psi front, 47psi rear, and I think they roll well on hard surface even at those pressures. I'm 230lbs so at your weight I think you could drop 5-10 psi and not lose any hard surface performance.

Nothing beats real world experience though, so just play with the pressure on different surfaces and let us know what you come up with

Thanks all. Yes, I'm running tubes (I'm still running tubes on my rigid ss 29'r MTB too for that matter---I almost never flat….famous last words of course..). On that bike I run around 19 in the front and 20 in the back. I guess I was afraid flatting on the Surly because of the smaller, less meaty tires, but fwiw I've learned to find a good line with so much rigid/ss riding that I don't tend to bash into things much. I'll start going a bit lower and see how I do. At 52 it feels great on the road, but it's definitely pretty "hard" feeling offroad!

AlanEsh wrote:I run Knard 41s on my gravel bike (tubed) at 45psi front, 47psi rear, and I think they roll well on hard surface even at those pressures. I'm 230lbs so at your weight I think you could drop 5-10 psi and not lose any hard surface performance.

I was going to mention this as well.  I have a set of 32c Terra Pros on my CX and a set of 38c Trigger Pros on my Fargo, and at a bodyweight of 240 (and even with a rear rack and a pair of 20-lb panniers), I never break 40psi rear on the Fargo.  That said, both are tubeless and that does make a difference