I am going back to mountain biking after few years and I think I'm aware of most of the techniques mentioned in the original post and I'll practice as much as I can. I remember though that my biggest problem was, also mentioned in one of the posts here, taking sharp turns while maintaining speed. I tended to go for the inner curve and loose momentum and speed and generally would be afraid of getting slingshotted off of the track, as if I didn't trust that the tires could keep me on track.

I will have a better bike and better tires this time though but any ideas how to practice to improve turning and getting rid of that fear of momentum throwing me off of the trail?. When I watch some of the videos of people riding fast on trails it almost seems impossible to me how they seem to remain glued to the trail even on tight curves.

Oh, and several years ago I slid down a wet rock while hiking down a side of a mountain, was tired, wasn't paying enough attention, my feet went forward and up and I fell backwards and twisted my left shoulder when I extended my left arm to cushion the backwards fall (which was a dumb reflex because my backpack would have cushioned it anyway). I had to go through therapy and it still hurts sometimes. But I developed fear of wet rocks, dumb reflexes and falling on my arms in general. That will be something to overcome too.

LOL, and I cover my brakes whether zig-zagging in traffic on my commuter, riding a loaded touring rig or whatever else, unless I'm on a flat empty stretch of road with no one and nothing in sight, and yet I never brake if it's not necessary or by accident; but if I have to brake, my reaction is slightly faster since my finger(s) is on the lever already. Telling someone to never, ever cover the brakes is just irresponsible and wrong. You cover the brakes but only squeeze when necessary. Yes, you learn to do that, I guess it's like handling a gun: you have your finger on the trigger but fire when needed only. I can see the instructors telling noobs during the early stages of teaching not to cover brakes to avoit OTBs. But once you're out of that stage you do cover the brakes most of the time.

Adam