I had a 90min Z2 ride scheduled for today. So I did a long easy warm-up on TPV and then decided to steel myself to ride the “remastered” Defender (at 75% so I could pay attention) and give as honest a review as I could possibly give.
He’s my full review (skip to the end for TLDR summary):
- This is a shell of what used to be Defender. It is no longer a Sufferfest workout in name or category or feel. It’s now some kind of “enhanced” OL workout (with music). This is what an OL workout would feel like if music was added.
- Workout has a new name and is now called “Phil Wins The Tour”. It’s also no longer listed under the Sufferfest section. So, took me a little longer than expected to find it.
- The workout profile looks the same, but there have been a couple minor changes to the workout itself. The high cadence section has been moved from the third to the fourth effort. And while the step downs are still every two minutes it the first effort, they are changed to every one minute for the final three efforts.
- The original music has been retained for four main efforts and beginning few seconds of each recovery.
- Intro - Could be good, but instead the school boy locker room humor immediately turned me off. Please remove/replace the douche, banana hammock, and swimwear ball jokes. Those jokes may work on Phil‘s YouTube channel, but they don’t work here. They are unnecessary and crude and out of place in a SYSTM workout.
- Needs music and riding video over the warm-up ramp section. It’s way too hard a warm-up to complete while listening to jokes and crude humor.
- Music kicks in with the map of the Tourmalet climb. But it also needs a voice-over description of the climb while showing the map. These voice-overs exist for all the other maps. Needs one here too.
- First effort - Keeps the original music
After the constant jokes of the intro, it takes a minute to get into the music and the effort. It’s a very strange transition. Video shows Phil stands at every STAND prompt. It’s not the original. But it works for what it is. - Each effort is a different iconic TDF climb. In each effort there’s the original music along with video of Phil riding with cuts to drone and helicopter shots and roadside shots. The original SUF storyline is gone. Only other thing left is the SUF science wording to explain the workout purpose before the first effort. The lack of storyline doesn’t bother me. For a SUF workout it would feel empty. But for what it is I like the emptiness and being able to focus on the efforts.
- First recovery section - Kind of feels like an On Location vignette and transitions into a description of the climb which was missing from the first map which is all pretty good. Tho it briefly rehashes the bad douche joke.
- Second effort - Keeps the original music. And it works for his efforts. Music cut out a couple times in the last 30 seconds of the effort. Not sure if that was my headphones or the video. But those were the only sections I had any issues, so I think it was the video sound. Has step downs every minute instead of every two minutes.
- Second recovery - about the same feel as the first. No douche jokes thankfully.
- Third effort - no mention of higher cadence. Cadence starts at 90rpms. Phil stands on the STAND prompts which is good. Still includes Laser Goast sound effects around the 1:30-1:15 to go mark even tho there’s no laser goats which doesn’t make sense in this new version. Again has step downs every minute instead of every two minutes.
- Third recovery - about the same feel as the other recovery sections. OL feel and map at the end with a voice-over which is good.
- Fourth effort - Starts with 100 RPM cadence target. Apparently the high cadence was moved from the third to the fourth effort. But there’s no on-screen prompts to let you know this. Music glitch again in the last two minutes of the video. Again not sure if it was my headphones or the video. Again has step downs every minute instead of every two minutes.
- Final recovery / Cool down - good OL type feel and positive outro.
- With about 5 seconds to the end of the video the power and cadence starts to warn you that it’s dropping to zero. This looks like an error that should be fixed/removed.
Summary:
I’m trying hard to give an honest review and remove my bias of the original. But you just can’t fully give a review without some comparison to the original.
It’s NOT Defender. The workout profile is close enough to be the same. But the feel is much different. The intro and those jokes may work for Phil’s YouTube channel, but it doesn’t work here. I like watching Phil’s YT channel, but I almost didn’t ride the rest of the video simply because of the intro. The rest of the workout is fine. It was a relief that the jokes didn’t permeate the rest of the video. I am glad the original music was kept for the main efforts, tho I miss the full original workout. I like the OL feel with the energetic music for the main efforts. It’s actually an improvement over many of the OL videos that have no music. The music actually improves the repeatability of the workout. If I wasn’t so attached to the original Defender I might actually repeat this type of workout and enjoy it. That being said, it’s not the same as the original. It does not have the Sufferfest storyline or feel. If it was an original workout and not a replacement for SUF video I would give it decent marks (except for the intro section). That is unfortunately tempered by the disappointment that it’s replacing a former workout that now no longer exists. On it’s own it could be good, but as a replacement it’s just not the same and makes me sad.