And I mean, literally.
My wife and I went to a friend to have a nice trip on a two-horse coach today.
We decided to go with my bike.
The road that leads to the stable is a very gently sloping road of compacted earth and gravel for the first two thirds. The surprise was in the remaining third which, God knows why, is made of a very thick layer of loose, round stones varying in size from an egg to a large pebble, mixed with coarse, round gravel.
Riding over those (with a passenger) was... interesting.
Unfortunately there was no other way, and no place to park the bike before you reached the stable.

On the way back, I had my wife walk that length at a safe distance from the bike. At least, if I were to go own, I'd go down alone.
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, here some advice. If somebody more experienced has something to say and correct what I gleaned from this brief, adrenalinic ride, by all means, jump in.

- First and foremost, if at all possible find another way. A grassy field will probably be much safer ground.
- DO NOT duck-walk the bike. A dropped bike is the least you can get, a broken ankle is more probable.
- NO front brake. Ever. For no reason. Touch it, and you are down.
- Feather your rear brake. This will give additional stability to your bike.
- Roll off throttle GENTLY if you have to. However, try to make so you don't.
- Slow is NOT the way. I don't mean you have to race up the road, but a slow bike is an unstable bike. Go as fast as you need to get decent stability. DO NOT HESITATE. Keep your speed no matter how unstable the bike seems to get.
- DO NOT jerk that throttle. Easy and gentle is the way. Once you got the speed, use just enough gas to maintain it.
- Do not tighten your shoulders. Keep your shoulder loose, and second the handlebars movements keeping the bike upright, without trying to keep an exact line. If the bike wants to go somewhat sideways, let it go where it likes, provided it's inside the road.

The road I rode had a distinct hunch, in the centerline, sided by two hollows. I tried riding the hunch, and riding the hollows. The hunch is less stable, but there's less rocks. The hollows seem naturally more stable, but they are full of rocks and pebbles. I'd go for the hunch, but I'm not sure.

 

Sound advice. All of what you said would have been my natural reaction to the situation.

 

Your story reminds me of something that happened to me a couple weeks ago. I went up to W.Va. with my G/F, we packed some camping gear and stayed at a campground near Seneca Rocks for 3 nites. We cruised all over and decided to check out Seneca Forest State Park. I had a map and it looked like this little red line would go thru the park and connect to a main road on the other side. The road started out as a one lane paved road...then it gradually got worse and worse till it was a nasty gravel road more suited for quads or hiking than a Heritage ridin 2 up! There was no good place to turn around so we kept going, I was begining to think there was banjo music playing in the distance!
Anyways we finally made it to a river, where there was a good place to turn around. Turns out it was a hiking trail and you could wade accross the river! What you are describing is 100% acurate! Worst part for me was rolling off the throttle, its like braking with the rear tire and can easily make it slip!
Plus street tires get chewed up pretty quickly on rocks & loose gravel. I knew when I started out my back tire needed to be changed soon, but after @10 miles of roads like that my treads had virtually disappeared!

 

the gravel is called baby-heads, it's nasty, but fun to ride. Wouldn't take a hog on it, but plenty others. Hit up advrider.com for more tips on the stuff.

 

Another thing to watch out for is getting a rock between your drive belt and the pulley. Can ruin/break your belt.