I think in general all the advice was good. Probably the best 10,000 foot advice would have been, take a look at the other more experienced riders, how are they sitting on their bikes, what equipment are they using, how much do they ride?
Several years ago there was a young rider on one of our club rides, he also works down the hall from me. I pulled him aside and told him to observe the experience riders and see what they are doing. He was low on his bike, he was spinning at about 50 rpm, and had a lot of things that needed correction. Over time he worked out the bugs and now he rides with the A riders. People can only make so many changes at a time, everyone was trying to help.