I just noticed that a few of the Sufferfest workouts are gone. In particular, Local Hero and The Hunted. Are there others that were taken out of the library recently and will there be more that are removed? I have a few that I don’t do as much but still like to go back to on occasion. Are they getting remastered? I know the footage was a little dated but it was still a good workout.
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Better get ready for your knighthood I guess!!
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Ahh gotcha. I have been with Sufferfest since 2011. That’s too bad. I’ve never been much for Knights but I get it. Thanks for the info!
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No offense taken. 
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This is horse hockey. If they want to make some small perk for knights, ok I guess, but taking stuff away from customers who are paying the same?! That’s not making a perk for knights. They already had it. I like systm a lot, but keep this nonsense up and I’ll be far more tempted to look around. Local hero is a benchmark for me. I didn’t start paying less. I guess people may have to fake knighthood, and why not, if they’re paying. Normally I’d say “you’re only cheating yourself.” But no, getting back the workouts you want is not cheating yourself, not at all.
Brilliant marketing strategy Wahoo. Take things away from paying customers and make them dance to get it back, without even getting you more money. I could at least understand if it was to add a pricing tier.
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Would you be more happy if Wahoo followed their first course of action and removed them entirely? The nobility asked that they be retained and Wahoo compromised and made them Knight’s only. They also considered remastering, but their were mountains to climb to do this. There are other videos, BTW, that are Knight’s only as well, mostly for the same reason.
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There is not another local hero, not even a lot of videos around that length. All they have to do is make it opt in. It could be “send an email with subject line” to opt in to “the classics club” or it could just be a category with whatever giant disclaimers they want all over it, or even button to “click to enable unmaintained content if you understand and agree.” If whatever they are trying to hide is so bad, how does forcing people to show proof of a bunch of rides in a day prove that they are suited to handle seeing it? Because I’m not interested in that particular endeavor I’m not suited to seeing it? I’ve been a paying customer for many years. I’m less worthy? What a stupid solution that surely has nothing to do with the problem.
Does Wahoo even read these message boards though?
By the way, it’s very convenient that you, as a Knight, seem to defend this as a reasonable solution, right? What difference does it make if I ride for hours back to back indoors or instead choose outdoors for such long sessions? Sufferfest was never a game. That’s zwift, which I won’t pay for. I cannot see how knighthood has anything at all to do with wanting to hide some videos. There’s no connection.
Also where are these “nobility” discussions? I find none of this here. I pay just as much as any “nobility” and in total have paid much more than many members of the “nobility.” I don’t understand why some customers would get more input and be listened to more than others. If anything, length of membership might be reason. Good for you though that you (who are more worthy than I) apparently have a forum to complain and be heard to solve it for you.
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I don’t get it. This isn’t frequent flyer miles. Frequent flyers paid a lot more than others. They are more loyal customers. That describes you, not knights. Someone might be likely to be a knight because they are retired and have no family obligations. They actually consume more bandwidth, a small cost, but still, they consume more, not pay more. I see no reason why you are less important of a customer than them. That makes no sense.
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To my great shame I have never done Local Hero. Judging by the comments above I have really missed out. I think I will replace next week’s workout, Blender, with Local Hero. Many thanks to @Still_D for drawing my attention to this video.
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I didn’t attempt to defend it. I stated the actions Wahoo took. Their first action was to remove them completely, with no replacements. The nobility asked they be retained for historical purposes as they are some of the untouched original videos. Wahoo agreed and made them Knight’s Only. I’m not happy that the general population can’t ride them nor that they will never be refreshed. I’m not at all happy that The Hunted was retained in its original format.
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Ok, apologies if I took that wrong. I don’t understand why knights are getting more voice or more services than any other paying customers. I don’t understand the point about the Hunted. You mean you’re not happy that it was not retained in original format? As I can’t see it now, I have no idea.
Edit: I don’t care a bit about them being refreshed or remastered. They were great as is.
To me, it’s tough. It’s a good replacement for an FTP test. I might even say if you can finish it, your stats might be set a little too low. That’s ok. It’s a good challenge for when you’re improving and of course can be dialed back. It starts out ok, just wearing you down before the MAP stuff beats you up. That’s my take anyway.
I don’t like losing access, but I understand that there are some Sufferfest videos where the footage is older. Maybe there are other reasons about those specific videos that caused some people to be upset and caused Wahoo to want to remove them. I think I remember reading a post on the forum a long time ago about someone upset about a joke.
Whatever the case, I can acknowledge that I don’t have all the facts and I can accept this. And I agree with your points as well. There could be another way to meet customer interest in these workouts while also giving Wahoo whatever goals they are trying to meet.
I would hope that they read their own forum but I doubt that they do. I’m not nobility, after all.
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I don’t know what the cause is, if it’s just not up to the image standards Wahoo wants now (stupid) or maybe too hard (also stupid) or maybe a copyright claim (ok, but after all this time?) or just that somebody didn’t like something in it, or more likely somebody thought somebody else wouldn’t like something in it, so none of us can enjoy it anymore (unless we do tricks, because then it’s ok). Apparently only those who still have it were told the reasons.
One thing is clear, Wahoo did not buy Sufferfest in order to preserve a community treasure. They didn’t buy it fully to shut down competition either, but it’s something in between. I barely use any other videos in SYSTM other than SUFF. If SUFF is gone, I’m gone. The “inspirational” videos don’t cut it. I can watch discovery channel while I ride.
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Ditto. And that would be a very sad day indeed. It it wasn’t for SUF I wouldn’t have achieved (or even attempted) many of the things I have over the past 9 years. While the content creators for SUF have left the building, I sure hope that The Company continues to support/maintain the SUF library. There is quite literally NOTHING out there that motivates and engages me to train indoors the way SUF videos do.
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I doubt that Wahoo has plans to end The Sufferfest videos. There’s even talk about bringing out more videos based on the formula.
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I’ve never heard such talk but if it’s true, that’s VERY exciting!!.
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There was before Sur Francis departed. I’m thinking the pool of folks has shrunk and that has lead to a temporary halt in video production. the On Location videos seem to be from Sir StandsaLots video collection.
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Honestly a few more is great sure, but like with all products that are CONSTANTLY changing to seem new and fresh to new customers, I just want consistency. I want to be able to buy the same shoes and know they will fit the same (after suffering through breaking in 4 pairs to find them). And I want to be able to ride the same activity, and know exactly how it relates to a year ago if I can or can’t finish it as the same level. I try to benefit from way too many things in my life to have to constantly adapt to things that were already solved. I can’t be the only person who feels this way. For goods, I get that there’s a cost to adding lines. For something like this though, there’s not even. If a company cares about old customers, they will leave classic successes alone.
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