Curiously enough, I rode the same rutted path yesterday on my non-suspension hybrid, and again today on my front-suspension hardtail mountain bike. When I was riding yesterday I was noticing how jarring the ride was. Today it was much less so and made me feel like I had a bit more control. I don't think the difference in control was night-and-day, but there was some noticeable improvement.

This was interesting, because I have been giving serious consideration to replacing the suspension fork on my MTB with a rigid one. But actually I do think having the suspension helped a bit. So now I'm reconsidering it, which feels really odd because up until today I've never really been a fan of suspension.