The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast

Brian Gatens
  • 5.0 (53)
  • Sports
  • Updated Semiweekly

The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast welcomes you to our world. Come hear from racers, race directors, fans of AR, and everyone in between. The podcast's out there, you pick it up, it's yours, you don't, I got no sympathy for you. (as inspired by Glengarry Glenn Ross)

  1. 5d ago

    TDZ 163 - Nathan Fa’avae Returns, Bound for the Yukon 1000

    Nathan Fa'avae returns to the Dark Zone — over 100 episodes after his first appearance as guest #50. A seven-time adventure racing world champion with Seagate and Avaya, Nathan officially stepped back from traditional AR in 2023, not to slow down but to redirect: growing youth and women's adventure racing in New Zealand through his events company, and chasing ultra-endurance paddling with longtime racing teammate Sophie Hart. In ten days, they head back to the Yukon River for their second attempt at the Yukon 1000, the longest kayak race in the world, after taking the win — and the second-fastest time ever — in 2024. Nathan talks candidly about why this retirement stuck when earlier ones didn't, the outdoor-education philosophy he and his wife Jodie built their family around, and his advice for anyone trying to break into adventure racing. He also opens up about a small moment with Sophie mid-race that's stuck with him ever since, and shares how listeners can support his $10-a-mile fundraiser for his family's foundation supporting Pacific Island youth in New Zealand. Shownotes: $10 Per Mile Donation Page - https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/httpsnathanfaavaenzfaavaefund The Yukon 1000 - https://www.yukon1000.org/

    52 min

  2. Jul 2

    TDZ 162 - The Endless Mountains Podcast, Episode 3: Out of the Frying-Pan, Into the Fire

    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.com Rootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.com Old School Bagels Bakery and Cafe - https://oldschoolbagels.com/

    31 min

  3. Jun 23

    TDZ 161 - The Endless Mountains Podcast, Episode 2: The Ring Goes South

    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.com Rootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.com Music credits: Mountain Sun, Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive, CC BY.

    20 min

  4. Jun 17

    TDZ 160 - The Endless Mountains Podcast, Episode 1: A Long Expected Party

    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.com Rootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.com Music credits: Crazy Folk-Rock Happy Timber, Vlad Annenkov, Free Music Archive, CC BY. Inspiring Acoustic and Strings, Vlad Annenkov, Free Music Archive, CC BY.

    34 min

  5. Jun 15

    TDZ 159 - Introducing: The Endless Mountains 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 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.com Rootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.com Bones Adventure - https://bonesadventure.com/

    9 min

  6. Jun 12

    TDZ 158 - One Degree Racing — Adventure Racing, Friendship, and The Cerberus

    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.php Sponsor Links: ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6 Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

    1h 5m

  7. Jun 6

    TDZ 157 - Team Overconfident and Undertrained: Overdelivering on Fun

    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/@OverConfidentUnderTrained Sponsor Links: ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6 Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

    53 min

  8. May 29

    TDZ 156 - Adam Rose: Bimbache Morocco: A Rough Race, A Grand Adventure

    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/@ARonAR Sponsor Links: ARWS Junior World Champs - https://tinyurl.com/mr48z4c6 Youth Adventure Race Camp - https://events.adengear.com/e/YouthRaceCamp2026

    1h 4m
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5
out of 5
53 Ratings

About

The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast welcomes you to our world. Come hear from racers, race directors, fans of AR, and everyone in between. The podcast's out there, you pick it up, it's yours, you don't, I got no sympathy for you. (as inspired by Glengarry Glenn Ross)

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