The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast

Team Electric Mayhem joins TDZ for their first full look back at the Adventure Racing World Championship in Corsica. They talk about adapting early in a race that didn’t go to plan, navigating unfamiliar maps, and joining up with a fellow team for the second half of the course.

They also share the kindness of Corsican villagers along the way. The expected and unexpected challenges that kept arriving and arriving. The challenge of a race that turned into more of an adventure, and how they worked together over and over again.

The conversation keeps coming back to team dynamics: a year of preparation spent talking through expectations before the race, and what that preparation was worth once things got hard.

Thank you to Electric Mayhem for sharing their story with us.

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Quick audio note - You may notice some voice distortion during the show. That's a side effect of remote recording. For example, Brianna does not have a lisp. That was a side effect of her settings, and Luis fades in and out a little bit. But Clay and Jade, they crush it. So good job, everybody. Don't let that audio get in the way of your enjoyment of the show, and thanks for being here

This is a special Course Reveal episode of The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast, recorded the week before the 2026 USARA Adventure Racing National Championships in Oregon.

Race directors Jason Magness and Darren Steinbach of Bend Racing walk us through the 32-hour course they built in beautiful mountains of Oregon. Teams start high near Diamond Lake and drop fast through the North Umpqua River country, riding past a clifftop hot spring and trekking to waterfalls where the checkpoints can’t be reached without getting wet. Then the course turns uphill, into volcanic ridgelines, an old fire lookout, and a night climb of Mount Bailey, before a final paddle across Diamond Lake to the lodge.

In this conversation, we explore:

• How a missing bus turned into a long, downhill opening ride
• The North Umpqua whitewater, and the first Nationals to require packrafts for four-person teams
• A points system that turns route choice into strategy
• Garwood and Mount Bailey, where the navigation gets serious and the race slows down
• Side challenges along the way, including a Mount Bailey FKT and a rope swing over a remote mountain lake

Darren and Jason also tell dot watchers what to look for: a fast first half, a grinding mountain middle where the field tightens, and a sprint home across the lake.

Follow the race at www.usara.com/2026-national-championships.

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Want more adventure racing stories?

Check out Rootstock Racing's takeover of The Dark Zone feed during their Endless Mountains Adventure Race. This limited series of six episodes captures the race from start to finish chronicling the experience of the racers, the grandeur of the course, and the human experience borne from an expedition-distance adventure race.

https://ardarkzone.com/the-endless-mountains-podcast-by-rootstock-racing/

This is a special Course Reveal episode of The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast, released just as the 2026 Adventure Racing World Championships get underway in Corsica.

Nancy Bahuaud of Raid in France joins us to walk through the course she and her husband Pascal built: 505 kilometers and twelve stages across an island often called the mountain in the sea. From the start in Corte to the finish on the northwest coast, teams will face nearly every discipline the sport has to offer, and terrain that will test the best in the world.

In this conversation, we explore:

• How Raid in France thinks about building a race as a journey
• The river and sea sections, and why this dry year has everyone watching water levels
• The stage Nancy expects to be the hardest, and how long it may take even the fastest teams
• Why compulsory rest remains non-negotiable
• A prologue that brings the town of Corte into the race

Nancy also shares what this race means to her and Pascal after twenty years of directing, and why Corsica holds a special place in that story.

Follow the race at www.arwc2026.com.

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Want more adventure racing stories?

Check out Rootstock Racing's takeover of The Dark Zone feed during their Endless Mountains Adventure Race. This limited series of six episodes captures the race from start to finish chronicling the experience of the racers, the grandeur of the course, and the human experience borne from an expedition-distance adventure race.

https://ardarkzone.com/the-endless-mountains-podcast-by-rootstock-racing/

Racing as Black Diamond NZ, Luke Jansen and Silas Jones of New Zealand traveled to Canada and became the first Junior Adventure Racing World Champions. In this episode, they recount a childhood of hut trips, orienteering before their teens, and cycling the vertical height of Everest for the fun of it. All of it compounded, quietly, into a team that could go around the world and come home champions.

What comes through most is how much fun they're having. These are two friends who race hard and laugh the whole way through it, still finishing high school and already eyeing the next mission, the next film, the next start line. Youth is definitely not wasted on these young people, and as we like to say, the kids are alright.

Shownotes:

Instagram:

Team: @Turbo.platypus.squadron.ss

Luke: @luke_jansen101

Silas: @prodbysilas

Chasing Seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8fmwFFxnY

Black Diamond - https://blackdiamondequipment.com/

Inspire Foundation - @inspire_foundation_nz

AXICO Financial Advisers - @axicoadvisers

Pure Sports Nutrition - https://www.puresportsnutrition.com/

Canterbury Sports Foundation - https://www.sportcanterbury.org.nz/funding/canterbury-sports-foundation-1

Rachel Nolan is back on the show FOUR YEARS (We can't believe it either!) after her first visit on Episode #35, and it's great to have her join us. In July 2026 she won PC12 in Colombia with Vidaraid, her first race with the team. Rachel and Brian also get into how she got there: solo bikepacking across the Atlas Mountains and the Pan Celtic, a training week built on hill repeats and packrafting off the west coast of Ireland, and a racing style she calls steady rather than fast.

They also talk meat-free fueling in a meat-heavy country, sleeping (or not sleeping) through a five-day race, running her own tour company, and why she thinks waiting to feel ready is a mistake. Next stop for her is the world championship in Corsica.

Shownotes:

Rachel on TDZ #35 - https://ardarkzone.com/2022/06/27/the-dark-zone-35-rachel-nolan-irish-adventure-racer-bikepacking-champion-and-african-donkey-whisperer/

Jen Segger - https://jensegger.com/

Jill Mooney - https://barrultra.com/about-us/jill/

Northwave - https://www.northwave.com/en/bike/shoes

Infinity Bike Seat - https://infinitybikeseat.com/

Albion Cycling - https://www.albioncycling.com/

Orbea Bikes - https://www.orbea.com/es-es

Columbia Sportswear - https://www.columbia.com/

TransAtlanticWay - https://www.transatlanticway.com/

Montenegro Mountain Madness - https://www.montenegromountainmadness.com/

Super Jay - https://www.instagram.com/jay_jantaraboon/

Just days before the ARWS European Championship Montane Adventure Race, race director Lars Bukkehave sits down with TDZ to explain the 48-hour course that he built. Showcasing the beauty and challenge of Denmark, the race runs 19 stages including a sea cliff where you can still see the black clay layer left by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, underwater checkpoints, a Cold War nuclear bunker turned checkpoint, a vertical orienteering stage that sends racers climbing into the trees, and a maze set in a public park so spectators can watch.

Lars also gets into what holds it all together: 70+ volunteers, and the bonfires, stick bread, and shared meals that turn 50 teams from 17 countries into a reunion before the gun even goes off. His 22-year career as an adventure racer, race director, and championship-winning teammate has led to this moment, and he looks forward to sharing it with the world.

Shownotes:

Race Social Media - https://www.facebook.com/MontaneAdventureRace

Atlas Explorers Expeditions - https://www.atlas-explorers.com/

New Zealand's Louie Burger is 18. He's also four expedition races deep, including a run at the iconic Godzone. He got there by way of one of the country's strongest school adventure racing programs, a last-minute addition to a team at The Magnificient, dedicated training and teamwork, and a lot of very long days in the bush.

We talk about what it takes to trust people you've known for 24 hours versus teammates you've raced with since school, what actually goes wrong on a six-day expedition race, and the moments both fun and not-so-fun that always come along during a race. Along the way, Louie speaks about mentors, challenging moments, an unforgettable in-race surprise, and his own thoughts on how hard to push a young body built for a sport he wants to still be doing at 60.

Shownotes:

Facebook Page - Link Here

Instagram Page - Link Here

Godzone Report - Link Here

Tasman Adventure Race - www.tasmanadventurerace.nz

In December 2021, Racer and Race Director Shawn Lemaster sat down with us for Dark Zone #16. He was building races through 361 Adventures and putting in his own long days planning race courses and personal adventures. This year, we hit five years of the show, so we're running it back with some of those early voices, and Shawn was first in the chair.

A lot has happened. 361 Adventures continues to grow, this spring he ran his first hundred-miler, and connects even more with his community through racing, directing, and adventures both near and far.

That's the thread running through the whole hour. Triathlon, then AR, then bikepacking, now ultras. Every time Sean moved to a new sport, what he was really looking for was his people. We also get into 361 going all in for 2026, their signature event The Fig growing to twenty-four hours for its twenty-fourth year, and a mountain bike race that broke his social media. The Dark Zone is delighted to welcome Shawn Lemaster back to the show.

Shownotes:

361 Adventures - https://361adventures.com/

361 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/361.Adventures/

361 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/361adventures/

Stagecoach 400 Documentary - Click Here

Rootstock Racing is taking over the Dark Zone feed, offering a limited series podcast chronicling the 2026 Endless Mountains Adventure Race.

In this, the final episode, official standings, returning to real life, and holding on to the magic of the adventure

Shownotes:

The Endless Mountains Adventure Race - www.endlessmountainsar.com

Rootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.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, strategic route decisions, the field stretches to the max, and stress levels rise as the finish line is in sight.

Shownotes:

The Endless Mountains Adventure Race - www.endlessmountainsar.com

Rootstock Racing - www.rootstockracing.com