First, wasn’t expecting to see @Nate_Pearson on here given his concussion. Take it easy, big guy!
I’ve been reading this thread for a while. At first my thought was “I’m grandfathered at $99/yr, so I don’t get the issues raised.” But there are several themes here that now have me thinking.
Background: my history shows I joined in 2013, doing month to month during the winter seasons through 2014. Got a bunch of Sufferfest vids (back in the purchase model days) and rejoined TR in Fall 2018 with an annual subscription and renewed twice now (including early this month). Just coming off a TKR 8 weeks ago, so am eager to get back into a plan once I’m far enough along the recovery path.
I’m not a Zwift/game/social media interaction type of guy, so the TR training platform itself works for me. There certainly are some tweaks mentioned in this thread about UI and function that could be tuned, but I’m not looking for gee whiz gamer eyes stuff.
I am thinking that all the bells and whistles around calendar and plan builder actually don’t add a ton of value for me personally as I still have to move/tweak lots of things as a 66yo rider. Somehow the changes I make never seem to go as simply as they apparently they do for others (and thanks to Chad McNeese for all his links to documentation!)
Also, the Thing 1 foreshadowing is getting a bit old. I understand market competition, but there is something about giving your customers a clearer picture of where you’re going – and a target window for when releases of significance will be delivered. For startups I think we all have more tolerance; TR is well beyond that hall pass and their annual new subscriber pricing warrants accountability on their part.
I still listen to the podcast, but the longer-form has pushed my tolerance/attention span.
So, what to do/how to think. First, I don’t think I’m influenced by the critical voices in this thread. I do appreciate that they’ve helped me go beyond my first tendency just to go along. Second, I will be sorely disappointed if the Thing 1 hoopla either continues for a bunch more months (nope, haven’t quantified that yet for myself) or doesn’t address things that would be value to me.
I’m in with this next year renewed so TR has my money. I do think they are “good people,” but that doesn’t given them a pass on re-earning my business. I have other causes for which to do charity donations.
I will jump into a plan when my knee tells me it’s time; and I will look to get value for my $99/year this year – and am optimistically hopeful TR will continue to grow in the value added for subscribers.