My husband and I have been riding road bikes(well mine is a hybrid) for many years and have trained for and completed 10 centuries. I thought it would be great fun and good cross training to get mountain bikes. On the advice of some bike store guys we got Specialized Rockhopper. It was a good bike for not a lot of money to start with. I soon found out I had created a monster. After I had spent all that time trying to convince my husband we should get those bikes, he took to it right away and I was the one who was afraid. We started out on technical trails and I can't tell you how many times I crashed and burned! Someone told us to back off a little from that and try dirt roads. As it turns out there are a lot of really interesting dirt roads near us with lots of rollers and cool scenery. I did have to loosen up one clipless pedal so I could unhook easier.One valuable benefit I have gotten from the mountain biking is that I can ride my road bike confidently over that gravelly stuff they put all over the roads in the spring. It's making me a more confident rider altogether.