So, I am not one to dismiss things out of hand (well, most things). So, this morning I rode Rollercoaster to see what the fuss is all about.
I have to say, Rollercoaster is not horrible. Maybe thatās daming it with faint praise. But hereās my full review, if you care to read onā¦
TLDR; I have a lot of mixed feelings. Rollercoaster has good bones and a massive amount of potential. But then it never comes close to living up to it. And even tho itās me saying it, I donāt know if saying it could be awesome is praise or a put-down.
I went into the workout trying to play down my expecations of either awesomeness or awefulness. So, Iām not biased or joking when I say that Rollercoaster has great bones.
To startā¦ Here are the 5 things that all great Sufferfest workouts have:
- An overarching theme - Defender, Attacker, Cobbler, Power Station, AVDPā¦ They all have a theme that is referenced throught the workout to tie in the video to the workout.
- A coherent storyline - This is often mixed with the theme, but it isnāt the same thing. The storyline provides the details of the racing. For instance, each individual effort in Fight Club is a race. Each section of Defender is a stage of a larger race. Each attack in DAYT. Each section has a context to how it all fits into the larger narrative.
- Each effort has motivation and a reason. āI think I heard a gear change. I think someoenās about toā¦ Attack!ā or āCatch himā or āDonāt let her get away!ā or āClose that gap!ā or simply āSprint for itā or āAttack!ā And they all fit into the storyline.
- SUF References and humor - These are often motivational or self-depricating or silly. But they provide levity and ensure that youāre properly motivated while also not taking yourself too seriously.
- One other thing that I forgot
Again, Iāll say that Rollercoaster has the bones of a good Sufferfest workout. The video and the music
Music - For the most part the music was pretty good. Iāll be the first to admit that music is very subjective. So, simply comparing what music is in other Sufferfest workouts, I can say that the music in Rollercoast was pretty standard SUF music and for the most part seemed to work with the theme, the storyline, and the invidivual efforst. Not all will enjoy every song. And there was a distinct lack of lyrics. But by and larger the music fit and I was sufficiently encouraged and motivated by it.
Video - I felt that most of the video was also pretty well done. I know a number of people have made some comments about the slow motion kids during the recoveries, but hereās the thing. So much of what is in the video in Rollercoaster is also in many of the older Sufferfest videos. I didnāt really see anything that stood out as being poorly done in the videos except for one section after the girl goes down the waterslide and thereās a few seconds of video thatās left in that shows the girl holding the camera and selfie-stick. This is probablty somewhat of a nit-pik, but seeing how itās being filmed (even tho itās still pretty obvious while watching that and the previous waterslide clips) does take away from the video by taking you out of first-person mode and putting you in third-person mode by showing you how sheās holding the camera the entire time.
What is really missing from Rollercoaster and would link all those recovery video segment is the storyline and included text (that is missing from so much of the video) that would provide the context that makes everything make sense.
Think about watching pigs lying on the beach in No Place Like Home or watching Butter or The Chores. Youāre watching videos of someone making butter and videos of people mopping and doing household chores. Without the text and the storyline those videos would have no apparent reason to be included and would seem completely out of place. But with the added text and storyline thereās a real good reason for those video clips.
The second that describes the science behind the workout is perfect. So many SUF videos have that too.
Thereās a couple jokes and they kind of work, but there are so many more opportunities instead that are missed.
The introduction has so many spots for added storyline and for humor, either SUF humor or even non-SUF humor. Like when the mother and son are pointed at different rides.
Kid: āWe should ride 9 Hammers before we get Pain Shakes!ā
Mom: āI think you need to Do As Youāre Told before you do The Choresā
Or even a joke as to why the 2 kids are the only ones getting on the roller coaster. So many spots for speech bubbles and humor, etc.
25:30 - Girl goes down the waterslide into the pool and the text says āRemember to keep drinking.ā Is this intended humor or not? If there was more included humor then I would instantly recognized this and laugh as it was pretty good timing. But because the words appeared a little too soon (and there was no story line) it was no apparent if it was intended as humor or not.
41:25 - Spoke-tacular is a great joke! But the follow-up text is a let-down.
42:40 - Boy lying on the slide with a joke about wanting to lie down right now is great humor! And then right after is a boy using the rings and could easily say something motivational like āHang in there!ā before saying āOnly 2 more intervals to go!ā But instead says āBut dig deep to find more powerā. Bah! Such a missed opportunity!
The abandonned Chernobyl ferris wheel is very out of place not because itās neccessarily inappropriate, but because itās completely out of context. It could be any ferris wheel, so why use that one? Throw in something cheesy or lame or slightly inappropriate joke (but not too inappropriate) and then thereās a reason for it. That kind of humor could be arguably questionable and not for everyone - but thatās how humor woorks. It either needed to be referenced in some way or cut out because as it is itās just a pointless throw-away and wouldnāt be missed if it was cut out. Give it a purpose.
There are so many other spots littered around just wating for SOMETHING. Yes, not every piece of video needs storyline added to it. There are plenty of segments of SUF videos without text. But they also have plenty of storyline and humor to fill in all those sections. Giving you reasons why you should attack or sprint or catch that rider!
So, yes. Rollercoaster is on the right trackā¦ 
And has a great foundation. And it could be an awesome SUF video! What itās really missing is the storyline and the context and the the humor that connects everything together and wraps it up into a package so it all makes sense. Without that all it is is just racing footage put to music.
Thereās so much potential. I hope it gets a facelift
Thanks for listening to my TED talk.
