SF, how about making sure the bike is capable, with no wear in suspension or brakes and correct settings for you before trying to go faster on all the wrong settings?....
ride at the same speed youre doing now with the bike set up to work with you, then progress from there, the bike reacting in the right way will require a different input and body position from a bike thats worn/set up wrong...............
good pics tho, looks like a fun day (also the lack of cars in the photos was good) :-)