just wanted to update in case anyone was interested, and since i got a few PMs on the specific setup. Works great as shown:
*athena-11 shifters. left hand shifter gutted and brake lever only.
*potenza mid-cage RD with wolf tooth roadlink extender. lowers the effective position of the RD just enough to clear all cassette cogs
*Fulcrum racing 5 wheels with shimano freehub
*shimano XT 11-40, 11 speed cassette.
*sram rival-1 crankset with raceface 38t wide-narrow chainring.
everything shifts crisply and perfectly set up this way. i have an 85 mile gravel race/ride this coming weekend to test it all out