By Ari Cheren

Team Terra Force arrives at CP29 Monday.

So how did two kilos of food end up in Team Pharmanex-Spie's kayaks Monday, earning the fast-moving team a three-hour penalty? We won't know for days, but rest assured that Cathy Sassin will plead her case convincingly late tonight when they learn of their new handicap.

Regardless, Pharmanex-Spie is on a tear for the finish, and neither three hours nor twelve can prevent them from wrapping this ridiculously long race up by the morning of the 25th. We made a long chopper flight into no-man's land today, dropping in on Pharmanex-Spie as they arrived at CP31b, in the middle of the sand dunes. Completely barren and exposed except for the occasional oasis, the two days of dune trekking are surreal to even conceptualize — especially after ten days on your feet and butt.

But Cathy Sassin dutifully — if not mechanically — kept her team moving, waking Steve, Tim and John when the water purifier was complete, checking on their feet and finally motivating the exhausted Kiwis and Aussies to head out from under their shady tree into the white glare of the dunes.

While Pharmanex-Spie was twelve hours ahead of the field Monday morning, the two French chase teams were within 500 yards of each other, neither catching nor losing the rival team 27.

The front HQ for the race is now situated at a cluster of pousadas in a "village" called Cabure — several hours by 4x4 up the dunes from the town of Tutoia. This beach paradise is now home to a couple dozen journalists, several race support crews, three helicopters and one loud generator. Tomorrow the front of the race will stop in Primera Cruz to try and intercept the leaders, then head to Sao Jose de Ribamar for Wednesday's finish.

It won't be easy. The organization is moving the press corps by vans to reach the finish, meaning that while the most critical portion of the race is unfolding, most journalists will be on a 12-hour drive and miss all the action. It wasn't we who said that Elf Organization was an oxymoron.

Meanwhile, the race has split into two groups; Extreme and Discovery. No teams took the Adventure/Discovery route today, so there is no adventure class for the finish. There are still five extreme teams, with 14 Discovery teams.

The big scandal today (besides the Pharmanex-Spie penalty) was America's own Team Varig. After being towed in from the rough open ocean, they were disqualified from the competition for going off course and into the ocean alone without a safety beacon. At this point — according to the organization — former Navy Seal Dan O'Shea continued up the coast on his mountain bike, refusing to leave the course. We will attempt to confirm this on Tuesday, but suffice to say that GŽrard Fusil was not amused.

Pharmanex-Spie must now time their last day perfectly, to not only avoid a 12-hour dark zone at the beginning of the sailing section, but also the tides and currents en route to the finish. It is still possible for another team to catch this truly amazing team, but it would take a Herculean effort.

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