The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast

For the next two weeks, Rootstock Racing is taking over the Dark Zone feed, offering a limited series podcast chronicling the 2026 Endless Mountains Adventure Race.In this episode, the race kicks off at the summit of Mount Defiance in Ticonderoga, New York and teams push through their first night on the course.Shownotes:The Endless Mountains Adventure Race - www.endlessmountainsar.comRootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.comOld School Bagels Bakery and Cafe - https://oldschoolbagels.com/

For the next two weeks, Rootstock Racing is taking over the Dark Zone feed, offering a limited series podcast chronicling the 2026 Endless Mountains Adventure Race.In this episode, final gear preparations, race fuel, and packing your fears.Shownotes:The Endless Mountains Adventure Race - www.endlessmountainsar.comRootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.comMusic credits:Mountain Sun, Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive, CC BY.

For the next two weeks, Rootstock Racing is taking over the Dark Zone feed, offering a limited series podcast chronicling the 2026 Endless Mountains Adventure Race.In this episode, teams talk preparation, goals, and the blurry lines between adventure racing and adventure parenting.Shownotes:The Endless Mountains Adventure Race - www.endlessmountainsar.comRootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.comMusic credits:Crazy Folk-Rock Happy Timber, Vlad Annenkov, Free Music Archive, CC BY.Inspiring Acoustic and Strings, Vlad Annenkov, Free Music Archive, CC BY.

For the next two weeks, Rootstock Racing is taking over the Dark Zone feed, offering a limited series podcast chronicling the 2026 Endless Mountains Adventure Race.In case you missed it, this is a rebroadcast of the teaser. Listen here for Episode 0.5 of the Endless Mountains Podcast, produced by Rootstock Racing.Shownotes:The Endless Mountains Adventure Race - www.endlessmountainsar.comRootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.comBones Adventure - https://bonesadventure.com/

We love it when race directors send teams our way, and that's what RD Mark Lattanzi did in 2025 following his three-day The Cerberus Expedition Stage Race. Three-person team, One Degree Racing, tackled the course and stood out for their enthusiasm, high spirits, and teamwork. This conversation is a clinic for newer teams. One Degree digs into strategic point-dropping, rotating the maps so everyone learns to navigate, and a mind/body/spirit check-in used by the team to squash trouble before it festers. These may be the most varied topics ever covered on TDZ: Paul Farmer and Mountains Beyond Mountains, chess boxing, the Wundt Curve, friendship beyond the teenage years, and why a short-term rental beats sleeping in the dirt.Thank you to One Degree Racing for coming onto The Dark Zone!Shownotes:The Cerberus Expedition Stage Race - https://www.thecerberusrace.com/cerberus/index.phpSponsor Links:ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

Twin sisters Jennifer Robertson and Jamie Miller of Team Overconfident and Undertrained join TDZ to talk about the greatest team name in adventure racing. Based in Oklahoma, Jennifer and Jamie discovered adventure racing two and a half years ago and never looked back. In this episode, they talk with TDZ about the accountability of training with your twin living across the street, learning navigation by stumbling into checkpoints, two 24-hour races that humbled them, and the third they're determined to finish.It's a conversation about saying yes, and about getting past the what-ifs and the fear of finishing last, and discovering that the joy outweighs all of it. Jennifer and Jamie came up through high family expectations, youth sports, college basketball, and learned the hard way that performance isn't identity. During their adventure racing journey, they get into the dehydration and cold-weather lessons that ended their first two 24-hour attempts, the videos they make on the long drive home to bring more people into the sport, and a candid take on where youth sports have gone wrong. It's a reminder that the best adventure racers are the ones who keep showing up, do their best, are good teammates, and refuse to let a bad day decide who they are.Shownotes:Overconfident and Undertrained on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@OverConfidentUnderTrainedSponsor Links:ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

Adam Rose joins The Dark Zone for a full debrief on the 2025 Bimbache adventure race in Morocco. Racing with Team Beacon, Adam has a lot to say about five days in the Atlas Mountains — the terrain, the race design, the decisions that cost them, and the moments that made it worth every dirham.Race director Antonio de la Rosa leaves his signature on everything he touches. Bimbache was no different. Adam unpacks what that means for teams on the ground, what the AR community should know before they sign up, and why this race is already being discussed in the same breath as a world championship.Adam and Brian dig into the gap between what a stage looks like on paper and what it demands in practice — and what happens to a team's decision-making when sleep debt starts compounding across multiple days. Spoiler: it doesn't go well. It makes for great podcast listening though.Also in the conversation: the tension between giving racers information and preserving the uncertainty that makes expedition racing what it is, European teams making smart sleep decisions before the 24-hour mark, and why some of the best moments in Morocco didn't always happen during the racing.Adam sacrificed to race Bimbache, and he has zero regrets. That tells you everything you need to know about what kind of episode this is, who he is, and why he loves adventure racing so much. Shownotes:AR on AR - https://www.youtube.com/@ARonARSponsor Links:ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

Returning guest Marina LeGree, Executive Director of Ascend Athletics, is always a delight to have on The Dark Zone. In this episode, we discuss her introduction to adventure racing, the parallels between Ascend and AR, and how her family is again returning to The Maine Summer Adventure Race. LeGree founded Ascend Athletics in Afghanistan in 2015 — taking girls into the mountains to teach navigation skills, rope work, and what it feels like to be part of a team. The Taliban shut that down in 2021. Ascend pivoted to Pakistan, and helped to resettle 134 Afghan alumni across three continents. The work of Ascend, in the face of incredible challenges, didn't stop. Marina and her team kept moving forward. It is easy to see the strong connection between Ascend and AR culture. There is always difficult terrain to traverse, the need for good navigation, and genuine teamwork. The Afghan alumni who made it out of Kabul in 2021 are now leading Ascend's Hike for Her events in Dublin, North Carolina, and around the world. One of them just volunteered to take the Ascend model to Africa. And some have dipped their toes into the AR waters.This is a conversation about adaptation when situations change rapidly, about building teams across impossible cultural distances, and why good work matters in an evolving world. Thank you to Marina for coming on the show! Shownotes:Ascend Athletics Hike for Her - https://www.ascendathletics.org/eventSponsor Links:ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

Before we get into the race and event updates, we take a moment to remember TDZ Guest #2 Shelley Johannesson. Her loss has been a tremendous blow for our community, and TDZ wanted to join the community in honoring her and who she was. We then turn to Jason's Adventure Bash, June 13th in Columbia, South Carolina, a race that Jason Schmidt designed himself before he passed away this past winter. His wife Liz made sure it's happening. Two formats, beginner to advanced, and 50% of proceeds go directly to a college fund for Jason's three kids. If you want a race that means something, this is the one.Ascend Athletics' Hike For Her goes global May 30th, one day, one trail, one mission connecting women and girls from Afghanistan and Pakistan to wherever you're lacing up. Get involved at the link belowAnd come late June, the keys to this feed are getting handed over to Rootstock Racing while we're out racing the 5-day Endless Mountains. Rootstock is producing an in-race podcast, dropping episodes right here while we're still on course. We're happy to give RR this platform, and this episode captures the spirit of The Endless Mountains Adventure Race. Thanks for being here for this unique episode of TDZ.Shownotes:Remembering Shelley Johannesen - https://www.usara.com/news/community-loss-1Shelley's Dark Zone Episode #2 - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dark-zone-2-shelley-mclaughlin/id1578529221?i=1000530189736Jason's Adventure Bash - https://www.gritadventureracing.com/racesAscend Athletics Hike for Her - https://www.ascendathletics.org/eventEndless Mountains Adventure Race - https://www.endlessmountainsar.com/Endless Mountains Lite - https://www.rootstockracing.com/endless-mountains-adventure-race-lite.html#/