The road from Camp One on the south side of Fiji's Viti Levu to today's transition area is a bumpy ride. An hour and a half on muddy roads that wind through the jungle finally to arrive at a beautiful river valley next to a local village. And we were in a troop transport truck. Imagine the difficulty in walking there. It was brutal.

Don't say that Mark Burnett didn't tell you so. Day two of the 2002 edition of the Eco-Challenge in Fiji ended as race boss Burnett predicted it would, with half the field strung out along the first tough navigation section of the course. Teams had been given a choice of which route to take to the third checkpoint, and those who opted for the shorter looking route quickly found out that it was, in fact, the long way home. In some cases it was a full 12 hours longer.

After just one day of racing, only a dozen of the 82 starting teams had finished the first trekking section as the sun set on the rugged mountains. A vertical waterfall had stood between ambitious teams and success, and only a daring few managed to navigate their way through an area known simply as "The Lost World" - an area so remote that even the locals rarely venture into it.

With the more "expeditionary" nature of this year's race, teams have to make more decisions as to what route to take, with less hand-holding by race organizers. The result of this more open format is that teams have been left to find their own shortcuts, or get more easily lost.

"It's harder for me, I'm used to knowing exactly where the teams are," said Burnett referring to past races where he could spot any team from his helicopter. "People will complain, but they can't say I didn't warn them. I'm not their mother."

The teams had spent day two making their way to the third checkpoint (CP3), after an arduous jungle trek, which followed day one's rafting in traditional bamboo rafts, known as "bilibilis." "We had a bad bilibili experience, which cost us a lot of time," said Rebecca Rusch of Team Montrail/Parallax (56) as she unpacked her bike in the transition area, an hour off the lead.

Teams had been compelled to build their own bilibili using only 13 long and 4 thin bamboo poles. Some teams, such as France's Spie, built theirs quickly, watching the proverbial wheels come off the cart soon thereafter. Others took longer to craft their rafts and were rewarded with a more successful float down the river. "The smart teams let a local show them how to build it," said Burnett.

After teams finished their rafting adventure, they began a tough trek that had only one checkpoint (3), and even that CP was unmanned and operated by remote. Teams carried with them a lock combination and a set of numbers which they had copied from a tiki carving that was placed on the course. Once they unlocked the radio box, they called in their location to staff in a nearby village, then proceeded to the mountain bike pickup.

The first team in was South Africa's Team Mazda (32), arriving at the bike pickup at 3 p.m. on Saturday. They were followed by Team GoLite/Balance Bar (50) just 15 minutes later. GoLite had moved all the way up from 7th place, and even managed to squeeze in an hour's nap along the way.

"We slept a bit," said navigator Ian Adamson as he scarfed down a can of Chef Boyardee beefaroni.

Just before Team Mazda headed out on the bikes, team Montrail came in, followed by Seagate.com of New Zealand. The transition area, which had been a sleepy clearing full of locals selling coconuts for two Fijian dollars, quickly became a bustling area of naked asses and half-built bikes as team members stripped off their hiking clothes and bolted their rides together.

At 4:15 p.m. the French team Spie (21) arrived, and a half hour later Finland's Team Nokia (20) walked in, followed closely by Air Pacific (03). Watching it all was the large crowd of locals who seemed fascinated by all the commotion, especially when the helicopters would land. Friendly and talkative, the village residents applauded each team's arrival and departure, while the local women cooked up specialties for competitors, staff and media.

Next up for the leading team: River Rafting and more mountain biking.

—Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent