Well, I learned to MTB on a fully rigid and can remember being one of the first people at college with a large tube aluminum bike with, suspension!!?? Insane!!. Student loans = Rock shox 21r he he!! Anyways, I remember have to always ride "light" on the rough stuff. What that means is that your hovering slightly off your seat and your grip on the bar is very light with your arms very light. So you are pretty much gonna need to be on your pedals more and learn to see fast. Not as simple as just picking lines to take, but you also need to get your sight and reaction down to where you don't need to think about adjusting. It also helps to ride at night with nothing but moonlight and single tracks wet and full of wet roots by the Mississippi!!