Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, everybody. I am definitely going to start training for the Pie Ride.
stapfam -- I'm on a Cannondale Delta V now, but have been riding on pavement. I suppose I will get a road bike eventually. I used to live near a large stretch of forest preserve. The main feature for MB purposes was a ridge that peaked at 90 feet of hair-raising plunge. There was a loop we rode that had a steep climb at the end, and a sadistic grade at the very end. We called it heart attack hill. Standing on the pedals in your lowest gear as your eyeballs popped out of your skull.
My buddy Kevin (riding a Klein) was always pulling some fantastic stunt like not quite bunny-hopping that log, or catching a pedal on a stump. One time he was nearly decapitated by a Whitetail buck.
Then they made it illegal to ride the single tracks. That was another reason I quit riding -- man was I pissed. So I guess I'll go skinny tire. There is a fairly robust cycle club out this way, I'll have to check it out once I can pass somebody not a granny or a toddler.