Oh one more thing: if by "off-road" you mean fire trails, gravel roads and the like, then go for it.
If you mean "tight twisty singletrack with rad drop off's and climbs that go up root-infested cliffs", then don't do it, at least not for a year or two. That requires a lot of bikes skills that take a couple of years to gain, and if you take a hard fall you'll learn how much slower broken things heal at our age. I speak from experience.