Originally Posted by big john

A lot of people try off-road after being roadies for years. For some, all it takes is once and they swear "Never again". Some love it and become quite proficient. A woman I rode with quite a bit raced cat 3 road and she got a mountain bike and we took her on some pretty crazy trails and she did fine. She told us it was her first time on singletrack!
She became a fearless descender and eventually could drop most everyone on the roughest descents. She also won a state cyclo-cross championship for cat 3.

But, yeah, most roadies freak out and go back to road only.