Floating on sand.

If you want to learn a real off-road riding skill then find soft sand, the kind of soft sand that is tens of meters deep and as fine as sugar.  Once you've got a great pile then ride it.  Quickly you will find that if you touch the front brake, come off the throttle too quickly, try to turn or even have your weight too far forward then you will crash.  Once you've got over this initial problem then you will feel the whole bike moving under you, the front wheel will turn the bars almost from lock to lock while slipping from side to side.  The rear wheel will be doing the same and the bike will feel as if its bending in the middle giving the feeling of aquaplaning or floating.  Once you have felt this then you are nearly there.

Now you have the floating feeling and you're slightly unstable it’s time to do the one thing that you will feel couldn’t be more wrong:  Open. The. Throttle.  Open it wide and the bike will transform from a slipping, floating seemingly uncontrollable beast into a sand beater and suddenly it will make sense.  You’ll welcome the floating feeling and the bike will carve through the sand like a snow board through fresh powder.  Now you’ve mastered sand. 

Ah, soft sand...