Hi, this is Pat Norwil with the Crocodile Trophy — long awaited transfer day. We started at the normal time, 6am, getting up, stuffing the sleeping bags, rolling up the mats, breaking the tents down and hurrying off to the kitchen for breakfast; which consists of cocoa puffs, corn flakes, and white bread with margarine. Today they kind of shorted everyone and they ran out of milk; they ran out of butter; and they ran out of coffee; and they ran out of tea; and, sugar. So there were quite a few grumpy people as we piled on the bus to go on a 580 kilometer drive. And then to make matters worse, the air conditioner went out and, as we go farther north, the temperatures get warmer and warmer. Right now, in Hughenden, it's about 85° and so we rode about eight hours on the bus in 85 °. Warm air blowing on us, pretty much baking us; most people were wanting to make today one of the stages, and continue on once the air conditioner got fixed.

But life on the road is pretty interesting. The group dynamics are kind of unique here because of so many different nationalities and languages. Being one of the only Americans, Carrie and I sit and listen a lot, although most of the competitors speak pretty good English. So most of the communication is through English but it's pretty fun to just be surrounded by all of these different languages going at it at the same time and I'm just amazed that some of the guys here can speak four or five languages; they go back and forth just as fast as we pause. It's pretty neat.

But most of the competitors are definitely feeling the wear and tear on their bodies. The line, or they call it the queue, for the medical van is getting longer every morning. The medical van is following farther back in the pack now because a lot of the hobby riders are really starting to feel the "sore butt" syndrome that's happening because the stages are getting so rough. And the guys in the front, too, all of these roadies with shaved legs and the attitudes, they're definitely feeling it. Although they're keeping that macho pose going.

Myself, I'm just plugging along and having a good time (at times). But there are also times where I wish I could just get a flat so that I could be alone and not have the pressure of the constant go, go, go of the paceline. It's definitely pretty hard and I get to about six hours into each stage and I start looking for excuses to slow down and go my own pace. But I'm hanging in there and most of the people are hanging in there. We're surviving. I think it's come down to a race of attrition and survival, I think maybe six people have dropped out so far and these next three or four stages are supposed to be pretty brutal. I talked to a guy in the grocery store today and he's saying it's just as rough as a cob, super stoney. So I think there will be more people riding the bus.

So, I'm going to dinner. That's all for now.

— Pat Norwil, MountainZone.com Correspondent