Hi Soup890, I may have sucker written right across my forehead
but, you seem very keen to soak up advice from others and have come to just the right forum to do that! There's oodles of advice offered here about all aspects of cycling.
In order for you to get the very best help from fellow CC'ers, it may help if you gave us a little bit of information on things like - your age, how long you've been cycling, where you like/have to ride and any other background info. you think may be relevant, so advice given can be tailored to suit your individual needs
Also, do you have cycling buddies or a local club that you ride with(always a rich source of valuable advice)? Your lbs should be able to give you information on various courses re: riding ability and/or bike management as they become available in your area.
If I'm barking up the wrong tree then fair enough, just carry on posting all your random thoughts and be prepared to receive all our random answers