I'll give you one piece of advice that I have learned by experience. I
fly out of Boulder, CO. West of Boulder is the Continental Divide
rising to 14000+. The prevailing west winds come over the ridge and on
the east side of the ride there is unseen pockets of 'rotor' type
turbulence. Going west you are climbing and are slow, so if you hit
them it's not too bad. But coming east, you are descending. Pilots need
to keep their speed down here. It is easy to point the nose down and
gain speed. Sometimes, except for these turbulence pockets, the route
is smooth, so that doubles the temptation to come down fast. When you
hit the pocket of turbulence it is usually just one or two "thwaps",
like giant hit the top of the wings with a big flyswatter. Then smooth
again. This is one place where keeping an eye on Va is essential.