[Onedwn5up]

Race start on Friday with the Team Challenge event. That is one of the things where the more hands on deck the better since there are rider cnages and pit stops. Just having someone there to hold a water bottle is important stuff. I did 30 laps around the place and was running as high as 3rd overall at one point and I damn near collapsed after I got off the bike.

Dave, if there is one thing you should do, starting as soon as possible, is go to the gym and do lots of overhead pull downs, military presses and chest/back rows from the sitting down position. The g-load the bank puts on you makes it feel like you have a 50 lb bag of sand between your shoulder blades and on the back of your neck. It's ridiculous. never felt anything like that before.

Also, get a half inch piece of foam or some egg crate and bring that with you. A lot of people will cut a piece to fit in the front chest area of their suit. The banking sucks you down against the tank and if you can lean on your chest it alleviates a lot of stress on your arms. Some people put blocks of foam on top of their tanks even.