A couple of the new vids and other things have me worried that the Wahoo buy is slowly changing our beloved Sufferfest to something I don’t enjoy as much. First off, the name: it looks like its being changed to Wahoo SUF Training App. What is SUF? That’s not even a word. . .
Secondly, there are some things in the new videos I’m not a fan of. Weird things like random text saying “More than you!” popping up. What does that even mean? What is more than me? Why is there a circle near it pointing to nothing? That’s the only specific example I remember off the top of my head, but I’ve noticed other odd sounding text and other newer things that just don’t make sense.
I’m also not a fan of the real voices in some of the new vids. The voice acting isn’t great. And I just prefer a voiceless text telling me its going to beat me with a shredded flaming chamois over a real voice - maybe that’s just me.
Also, where the F&*@! is the Android app?! I really would like to do yoga in my office without having to buy an apple product.
I’m at least encouraged by the recent message on the new flag and coat of arms - delivered in true Sufferlandrian fashion.
I don’t really care about the naming. Sufferfest isn’t a word either as it happens. Obviously it has more meaning than SUF, but it’s not a big deal to me. But the problem with the word “Sufferfest” is that it really only appeals to a hardcore minority of potential customers (who actually like the idea of suffering) and would almost certainly put many others off even taking a second look. My wife for example took one look at the name and declared it man-cave fodder. If it had been called Wahoo SUF she may well have taken more interest, or at least not jumped to any instant conclusion. I’m pretty certain that the negative word association will have been flagged up instantly by Wahoo marketing, so it will inevitably get dropped sooner or later for something less intimidating!
One of my riding buddies, who regularly kicked my tukkas last year, told me he’d never sign up for an app with the word “Suffer” right there in the name.
Having been doing these videos since there were only two of them, and you had to download them, I’ve lived through a fair bit of change here. There’s no doubt that the Wahoo purchase has toned down the “suffering” focus, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as of course we all need rest and recovery and rides that fun to do without always killing ourselves. I guess my fear, though, is what makes Sufferfest unique is going to get lost eventually. Anyone have any doubt that Wahoo is looking to purchase one of the smaller “Zwift-like” apps, so that the Wahoo universe includes interactive virtual racing? Or that they wlll acquire one of the “virtual ride” apps (I predict FulGaz), so as to have that base covered? So then SUF will just be the “structured training” part of the Wahoo universe. Which will be ok, I guess, except I would be surprised if we get too many more of the traditional S’Fest videos.
I can’t agree with you more! Give me my old tried and true Sufferfest back! With a F&*@! Android app! And I may be the only one, but I really can’t stand the new flag and coat of arms. The original never bothered me whatsoever, and I am someone who is usually aware and has some sensitivity, probably more than most for personal reasons, toward these kinds of things. Just not a fan.
But isn’t it already that anyway in anyone’s universe? What else would you use SUF for other than structured training? I don’t really see how the Zwift clones and virtual road apps would diminish SUF’s use for structured training.
Are you thinking that Wahoo will eventually drop the SUF videos in favour of moving their structured workouts to simulated roads? For me that would be the end of SUF and I would probably go to TR for structured training. It’s the videos that make otherwise seriously dull interval training more enjoyable and entertaining for those who do this whole cycling thing for fun (99.9% of all cyclists).
I don’t really see how interval training benefits from being inside a riding sim. I’ve tried doing a few of the Zwift workouts and they are as dull as dishwater as you lose all the connection with the simulated terrain you are riding on. Racing on Zwift or riding in groups with your friends on simulated terrain is great fun. But if you switch to workout mode then you lose all that interaction and it just becomes a dumb avatar plodding along a random road. That for me is why SUF videos are far more enjoyable for interval training. I particularly like the immersive race segments. They just feel more connected and relevant to the intervals you are doing.
So anyway I do hope they keep SUF largely separate from the simulated riding apps. I’m fine with them integrating no-vid workouts into those kind of apps, but not dropping the core videos!
I tell my friends I am no longer in cartoonland and using a different program by the name Sufferfest and the name is appropriate. The porof is in the pudding, a week ago I did a mountain bike ride and there is one hill I’ve never gone all the way to the top without stopping to keep my heart from jumping out of my chest ( sections of 20-24%), cleaned that hill nonstop! thank you Nine hammers
I still have those CD/DVD type things we got in the mail from the first several vids we ordered, and then the download process from the email. Great times, smiling faces!
Respecting the purist and nostalgic … I kinda like a bit of progress, new videos, maybe something like adaptive training and definitely a platform that combines structured training with real life ride simulation (famous climbs and etc).
I love the Sufferfest videos! Structured training in Zwift just turned boring and watching Netflix made it bearable but I felt even more disconnected from cycling.
Now I can have fun cycling indoors and enjoy the immersion. I just have to get used to crashes in the videos, I always stop pedaling instantly
I got here because of a promo-mail from Wahoo although it was still named Sufferfest but with a SUF Logo and found Sufferfest appealing.
I even like the name Sufferfest and understand that it may turn people away. None the less I think that people who do structured training (indoors) already are quite prone to suffering. Or how I probably would phrase it “having fun pushing through a hard interval or up a hill”. This is really rewarding
By the way Sufferfest stopped using the name in spinning classes etc. even before Wahoo:
Yeah, boy, the group fitness space, holy cow, have we learned a lot there. We originally had the idea that, “Wow, we’ve got these great Sufferfest videos…
…
We’re now known in that industry as SUF Cycling, no longer the Sufferfest, because the Sufferfest was just too scary.
Fits me perfectly!
