Agree with everything everyone else has said but particularly the part about riding with other people. I wasn't sure from your post if you were riding in company or not but riding with people who are more experienced than you will certainly help as you can watch what they do. You may need to ask people to ride sections so you can see them but it is definitely worth asking people to show you, most people will be flattered. Following someone you trust and who knows what they're doing is a lot easier than riding it by yourself as you can follow their line and really just concentrate on your bike handling, you know if they've gone down/over it then you probably can. Just don't ride right up their chuff, I've seen some nasty crashes that way. Give yourself a space between to react if they crash and that you can still see the trail properly to make final decisions on line choice as you may not always like theirs.

I've been riding lately with just a couple of girlfriends of mine who are a lot less experienced than me and I've really enjoyed helping them tackle things (makes me put my money where my mouth is!), it forces me to evaluate what I do when I ride which is a good thing.

Its good that you like going fast because speed is most definitely almost always your friend* when MTBing, especially when you've got the experience to handle it. A good dose of confidence to let your bike do its thing coupled with some momentum will get you through a lot.


*(except when its not, but the ground is normally the real villain of the piece then)