The key, I'm told, to riding off-road is to keep the handle bars loose. That is, do not hold them with a death grip and rigid arms. That's more or less true for road riding too. The difference is that your front tyre will definitely slip at some point on the sand, gravel, mud or whatever. And when it happens for the first time it's scary. The theory is fine, but the moment you feel a slide, your body goes into panic mode and exactly the opposite of the good advice happens - and you can do nothing about it. If you're lucky you'll stay upright, if you're unlucky you'll have pulled the front brake too and then you're not just off-road, but off-bike! I know from experience, that warrants a big fat ouch!
Once you learn to stay off the front brake, the next step is to keep the bars loose. Not as easy as it sounds, but it comes eventually. Someone advised me that standing on the pegs (foot rests) would help, as would weighting them in the intended direction. I know from my Enfield taster day that standing on the pegs is great for going over the bumps and it seems to help keep the bars loose too as your arms are stretched and in the same axis as the steering. So today I was riding much better than I have been, yet still managed a brief front brake moment, but fortunately survived intact.
Coming into the camp this afternoon, we had to descent a very loose dirt track with very tight turns. We took it in turns to go down in first gear, leaning heavily on the rear brake. The turns were challengiing but enjoyable. Tomorrow we go up!
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