The body armor, if heavy enough will be a real plus, speed-wise.

My fastest descent ever was coming off Smuggler's Notch in Vermont in the race. Our speeds were not recorded (this was 1977) but our pace car, the local cop, had to do 60 mph between curves to stay ahead of us. (We were told that we needed only to brake for the first two corners and that was all we did

Edit: I rode that race (twice) on a 54-14. 14 because I really wanted a 23t for the climb up knowing everyone else was going to go 24 or larger and being a mountain goat, I needed to punish them where I could. I worked at a shop that sold Fujis so we had the full SunTour cog board, but no 23s for the Winner I was riding so I made up a Perfect but Perfect didn't offer smaller than 14. Funny thing was that I got beaten up but caught going down a junior riding a 14-18 straight block and a smaller chainring (required junior gearing, tailored for dead flat Florida where was from). He beat me. Tall gears aren't everything.

Ben