Completely agree with the "Nothing else sharpens ..." part, but I don't quite see the connection to the placement of the auxiliary gear and permitted g-loads and maneuvers.
Agree.
It's being on your own, and not in a simulator with a "reset" button, that makes you think, as your wheels leave the ground, "the only way I'm going to be alive in an hour's time is if I don't screw up". Not every flight, but sometimes (and I don't say it out loud to passengers). And that's a spamcan on 2km of tarmac.