git over SSH without github

It is time to upgrade this site, but I want a backup of the code before I do it, I may even lose the git repository.    The site consists of the git repository that holds the drupal php code and the MySQL database.   So, here's how I backup it up without resorting to github.

First, I backup the database with my own script dobackup:

dobackup database_user_and_name

Then, I make a copy of the git repository:

git clone ssh://username@hostname/absolute-path-to-git-repo

Finally, update drupal using drush, but without depending on drush to be flawless:

drush pm-update drupal
...
drush up
...
git add .
git commit

That's all there is to it, assuming you've set up the SSH keys properly.   Now as long as I can remember it the next time I update Drupal core.