I've been working on acquiring this skill that I formerly have appreciated from afar, and made some progress recently by weighting my fork and then quickly unweighting and lifting up at the same time. I could lift maybe 4-6 inches, but I felt like I did not have good control over the process - I could not predict how big of a lift I would get given a similar forcing on my part. I was pretty happy about this development, but it paled in comparison to others' wheel lifts. It's definitely a skill thing, as I was biking recently and saw an awesome woman doing wheel lifts with a cross bike in the woods... I think this is where a bike camp could come in (I've never been, but would love to), or even an hour of practicing wheel lifts over the same log with a friend (friend necessary to either catch you on one side of the log, for moral support, and to run for help if you get hurt ). However, I just put a new fork on my bike this weekend and wow. Just took it for a 1 block spin down the street and back, and I can do awesome wheel lifts with no more effort. Maybe your fork is too stiff - you could try softening it (on my fork, it's a size 5 allen key hole on top of each fork arm, which I turned (and turned and turned) counter-clockwise).