Hi, this is Pat Norwil calling from the Crocodile Trophy and we're in Birdsville. Carrie Edwards just arrived and she's been doing really well, she's still wearing the leader's jersey for the women's division and pretty much walking away with it. Barbara Schwarzmann from Germany is still out and it's about 9pm so...last I heard she had 40 kilometers left to go, and Carrie's been hooking up with a pretty good group of guys and working a paceline, you know, being really efficient at staying with people which is pretty critical in this race. If you're going at it alone, you're bucking some serious headwinds.

Today on the Clifton Hills to Birdsville leg (185 kilometers) it was blowing about anywhere from 35 to 40mph headwinds...I think it was blowing at 40 every time it was my turn to take a pull...and, but it, no it was pretty severe winds, pretty typical for this area.

I talked to some of the locals in the bar tonight and they were saying more winds to come and rougher trails. You know, it's pretty amazing, it's like this: It's a gravel road but the gravel does not move! It's really jagged. I sliced a tire yesterday and it's amazing that I even finished. I was inspecting the tires this morning and realized that I got a one-inch gash in my tire and half an inch of tube sticking out. It's pretty brutal, I think there were four of five flats today, the same as yesterday. The race organizers got shipped two guys from Shimano that are following the race via trucks.

They are bouncing around with a truckload of spare wheels so if you break down it's usually only a few minutes and those guys are there to either loan you a pump or give you another wheel if it's a problem. Unfortunately, they can't do very much for Jan Kopka, whose frame that Gerhard ran over today, but they are working on the beach bike, trying to get it a little more streamlined and ready to roll.

Jan was pretty superhuman today, he stayed with the lead pack for I think about four breaks and then we picked him up about 80 kilometers, and he was pretty much toast, having a beer. And he was waiting for us.

The four of us, Jack Oldfield and Frank from Belgium, and I, made a nice foursome. And Carrie, you know, Carrie is doing the same thing, she's smart, she's hooking up with somebody, at least two or three guys who are her own speed, and working the paceline and being efficient and being smart.

You know, it's only the third stage and we've got a lot more to go. And I roll into this last 185 kilometers and I was beat, I was totally fried. You know tomorrow, we wake up, and it's 205 kilometers, and the next day it's another 205. Then we do a transfer. It's a tough race. What makes it really tough is that you've got to go fast every day. You can't slack off if you want to finish in the top cut, you are right on it, right off the bat. There's no screwing around. If you have a problem, you're done, and yesterday, I had a problem, and I was done, and it's just as simple as that.

But Carrie's still in the winner's jersey, and I think she's going to do really well. That's all for now.

— Pat Norwil, MountainZone.com Correspondent