but what about when your bitch braking round a new trail or like me, you have a terrible memory for trails and forget what’s coming up

Sessioning a bit of trail isn’t about memorising exactly what’s coming up. It’s about keeping the variables as constant as possible so you can just concentrate on riding the bike and learning new skills. The idea is once you’ve learnt a particular skill and can do it comfortably to a high standard you can apply it more easily in any situation.

Im comfortable with my bitch brake.

I was zooming down a steep road hill yesterday when i remembered that my Centrelock rotor adaptor was loose after an earlier tumble (failiure of which could result in the rotor shredding the caliper, or visa versa) and that i had just built the front wheel myself, with second hand spokes, and had had to backall the spokes off half a turn after totally over tightening it.
I almost got off and walked down the hill 🙁

Bitch brake on Kirkstone Pass on my road bike and northern Monkey on W’fold on my MTB. Can’t help it!!!

OP there’s no-one to impress by walloping down the side of said hill and ending up in a ditch. However, maybe there are things you can do to increase your sense of control on the bike (1 finger braking, footwork, looking further down the trail, using the front brake as the dominant/rear brake only when appropriate, not staring at things to avoid, not hanging off the back like it’s the 90s etc)?

There’s always someone faster who will think you’re slow, and someone slower who will think you’re fast. There’s a speed at which you feel you can respond to things and control the bike and beyond that you will be beyond your perceived range of control.

I now aim to ride smoother than faster, which happens to mean I ride faster than I used to be but ride more calmly. It’s amazing what a difference staying loose on the bike can do and it can only be done if you’re relaxed.