Hi, this is Pat Norwil from Crocodile Trophy. Stage Two today was Marree to Mungerannie. A lot of anxious riders; we're all pretty much itching to get going. A week in Adelaide and then a 680-kilometer transfer up to Marree was pretty tough. We're all real anxious to get going, and the pace showed it.

We took off...some of these guys were pretty phenomenal...just incredibly fast-paced, the entire day. It was 145-kilometer stage and Erik Vanderaerden from Belgium was 1st, and Roger Smeets from the Netherlands, and Simon Apperloo was 3rd. They're all on the Team Fuji. Wolfgang Fasching from Austria, the winner of the Race Across America, was 4th, and then Thomas Dam from Denmark was 5th.

It was pretty impressive, I think they all took off incredibly quick and I stuck it out for about 40k, then they spit me out the back. I struggled with the winds; they were blowing about 25 knots out of the west, so we were into a side-wind. It was pretty harsh...definitely, the motivation to bridge up to the Dane, Frank Fynbo and...we just kind of worked together, and we caught up to Jack Oldfield from Australia, and eventually got up to Jan Kopka of the Czech Republic, and the four of us worked really well for the rest of the day, but man the pace was impressive. We averaged like 29 kilometers an hour for the five hours we were out.

The route is pretty boring, pretty flat...it looks a lot like Nevada here — just flat and rolling hills...or Death Valley. It was a pretty boring day. I guess we go tomorrow from Mungerannie to the Clifton Hills, and we're camping at a cattle station so no communication tomorrow...and then we do a 158-kilometer stage that day, one of the harder ones, so it will be interesting.

The pace was fast and Erik Vanderaerden, ex-pro racer, is incredible, but I think the word is that it's a typical first day; everybody is really anxious and they just want to just get going. They go out fast...and man, it was a fast day, beautiful scenery; you know it's incredible here. You can see forever, it's flat...kangaroos and cobble-y road, washboards, cobble, and sand...pretty gnarly. My ass is killing me and it's only the first day. So, this is Pat, signing off, and I'll be updating the site in a few days. Thanks!

— Pat Norwil, MountainZone.com Correspondent