I am one of those newer subscribers, with really only starting with SYSTM and Sufferfest a couple of years ago. The humour is what drew me; as I said in an earlier post–if I just want to workout with intervals, I can do that far cheaper by using pure Zwift and/or my own interval sessions…the storylines and jokes are incredibly motivating to get you to go harder than you would think you can otherwise.
(Then discovering the support group and culture around Sufferfest, which was even better to help with motivation.)
Wouldn’t it be funny if it’s the humorous (or humourous), often sarcastic written content that was secretly licensed to Wahoo by Sir David et. al., and that’s the part they really have to remaster out of it when they do this. Lol
Nice. Better than the echo chamber the forum has become. Let’s see how he responds (or if he just passes it on to the comms folks for a “corporate” answer about “broadening the appeal” blah blah blah.
I tend to be one of those users who is not that deep into the “Sufferlandria lore”. I love the workouts more for the music and the (so far) great video material. But unfortunately I have to agree. The remastered workouts and the new SUF video leave a lot to be desired. They seem uninspired. I also have to think about whether it’s worth renewing my subscription. As others have written, in my opinion other training platforms offer better content for less money (e.g. adaptive training). The videos have been Systm’s USP so far…
Apologies for the late response. I’ve been thinking about this and then I battered myself to a standstill while doing TBTITW
As much as I suspect that there isn’t “a will”, it’s unlikely that anyone here will really know how the original licensing arrangement was constructed or why it couldn’t be extended.
Conjecture on the forum (and, probably understandably, mostly negative conjecture at that), wouldn’t be my chosen way forward, but now even I am starting to lose my stoic exterior (or maybe my de-Britification is nearing completion ).
I support your notion that directly contacting the new CEO may be the best approach, although I expect the “corporate” response.
I (idly) wonder what percentage of SYSTM subscribers are the hard-core Sufferlandrians. From a business perspective, if Wahoo see an uptick in subscribers since the de-SUFFing then they are unlikely to reverse that process to keep the handful here quiet and happy.
Since they effectively abandoned RGT not long after the take-over I thought that was a positive sign that they believed in their unique product but now it seems my confidence was misplaced as they have brought out “routes”.
I wrote a while ago that I didn’t think this was a good move to try to “compete” in the virtual world, but I’m not a wicked smart business person, so what would I know.
I can’t imagine that I’ll subscribe anywhere else for training, so I’ll have to get used to suffering through workouts without a wry smile on my face.
To be clear, I think the best (though maybe not the nicest) way to get some traction and/or action would be to respond to the CEO’s social media posts (not sure where he is as I’m not on any of these atm: LinkedIN, Insta, FB, X/Twitter, BlueSky, TikTok, Threads) about The Company. Some public “challenges” may actually provoke some real responses. It’s easy to hide behind private messages and emails by having someone else respond on your behalf with the sanitized answer.
Also, to be clear again, as much as I will miss some of the actual footage, as another person mentioned it’s not so much the change in footage and loss of The Shark in Thin Air or Coryn Labecki (Rivera) in Who Dares as it’s a careless exchange of cycling footage that is no longer directly linked to the story, or, as in Rollercoaster, there really is no story at all, and all the de-SUFing is making the classics, humourless and dull. The workout actions need to match the cycling footage action otherwise it’s not nearly as motivating. I have to remind myself, of course, that I am preaching to the choir so won’t go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and…
just let sleeping dogs lie