The other thing to consider is that what stops a lot of people from really advancing their riding is that they've never looked at the basics in any detail. I see this a lot in snowboarders. Many of them are self-taught or have had minimal lessons, but because they can zoom around the place, they think they're pretty good. Loads of them would benefit a lot from going back and looking at some basic body position and movement skills, but they're not very receptive to it. This completely applied to me. I got a major eye-opener in snowboarding a few years back when I went on the BASI instructor's course!
A lot of mountain bikers would also benefit from the same thing – they're experienced enough to ride fast over most terrain, but then have to slam the brakes on at every corner because they've never looked at basic cornering technique.
This isn't a criticism, it's a pretty natural outcome, especially if you're self-taught in a sport. I'm a big believer in basic skills practised enough to become totally ingrained.