I'm with westernflyer on this one - 'gravel road' is a general term, perhaps far too broad.
Speaking from experience,
when the gravel is good, a rider can take a downhill quite fast with confidence. Open it up to really run at speed. Or, eat some snacks, shoot some pictures and videos with one hand on the bars and feel pretty confident about control of the bike. even single handed.
Very enjoyable.
HOWEVER,
Off camber, thick unconsolidated gravel, pockets, potholes, and large riffraff can all conspire into a loss of control. These destabilizers are compounded on a loaded touring bike. I found some old footage of me crashing a loaded touring bike on some riffraff and pockets during a descent in the Cascade mountains.
On cursory inspection, the roads look very similar, but the conditions were radically different.
I was using 700x35c Panaracer T-Serv Protex tires on both these trips. To date, have NEVER experienced a problem like leeG's
Originally Posted by LeeG
Paselas are nice but once you put all that weight on and ride through rocks, gravel and washboard the sidewalls will take a beating, especially the rear tire.
meh.