My very first older person’s illness. I’ve had shingles, and it stinks. Here’s the gruesome evidence…..

I’d been feeling a bit low for a while, starting end of Feb really, but as lots of people were getting colds/flu, I thought I’d maybe go the start of something like that. Next I came out in a rash. Nothing new for me, as I often get a slight rash just before I’m ill (ever since I went to Turkey in 82!). Things seem to be getting worse by the day, and I come out in blisters. A trip to the doctors confirms I have Shingles. There isn’t really anything you can do apart from rest, and take painkillers if you need then. I’m thinking i’ll be over it in a few days, but 5 weeks later I’m still not clear. I’m feeling much better, the pain has turned mostly to itching, I’m healed enough to be able to wear a cycling jersey, and I managed an hour on my bike yesterday, but that wiped me out.

Anyway, not complaining…..onward and upward! 🙂

OK, anybody can do it. If you have some original songs you can upload too! 🙂

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Blimey! stratobiker.com is 10 years old this weekend! Where did that go?

10 years ago I started this blog while recovering from a bike crash. Little did I know at the time the significant part that would come to play.

I’m gonna chew it over on a bike ride and get back to you later….

Yeah, so 10 years ago I was a hardworking IT contractor. I earned great money, but I hated it. In my spare time I raced my bike and played guitar.

When I crashed my bike it really shook me. I remember the surgeon telling me my shoulder would never be the same again…and he was right! 10 years down the line I can hardly raise my arm high enough to scratch my head. I cannot throw a stone, and I had to give up my dream of becoming a trapeze artist. It still hurts too. Not all the time, and my brain has learned to switch off to it, but from time to time. It get’s very sore after a couple of hours on the bike, but I manage it, usually by putting my hand on my leg and cycling my arm up and down. I’m not complaining, I can still ride my bike, and I can still play my guitar.

Yeah, so 10 years down the line, I live in France, where I’m semi retired. I still ride my bike a lot. I don’t function if I don’t get my exercise fix, and France is such a beautiful country to cycle in. I still play my guitar. I’m in “The Sugaree Band“, playing Rock, Blues, Funk, and anything else that takes our fancy. I started a Jazz club! It’s been going from strength to strength. In fact so many good things have come out of it it deserves a post of it’s own.

When that surgeon told me my shoulder would never be the same again I was gutted, and I didn’t realise the extent of the effect it would have on me. If he’d told me I would move to France and start a jazz club….well…who knows what’s around the next corner eh?

Here’s to the next 10 years. I wish you all well.

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Local musician and writer Tim Bragg has a new album out. Here’s what I made of it….

There is a way, the way of no way, in which all ways are contained, but no way is followed.

What is Crossing Over? A threshold, a transformation, a one way journey that can never be made again? Is it jazz, rock, ambient, happy, sad? Yes, all of those, but none specifically!

Tim Bragg is a talented multi-instrumentalist who sings, composes, and writes books! So, is he like a drummer who plays flute, or a flautist who plays drums? Is he a writer who plays, or a player who writes? Yes he’s all of those, but not one specifically!

In Crossing Over Tim presents us with a dense mesh of musical influences. Here we find him uncoupled from musical trends. There are jazz elements, there are rock elements. Tim teases, pushes, pulls, weaves….It’s a pure sonic experience that takes you through the streets, over the mountains and beyond, towards the light and heavenly plains, and asks whether you’ll be waiting, on the other side. It is a musical journey that can be taken again and again, and the destination will be different.

It’s impossible to pick ‘stand out’ tracks as each one is so rich, and textural. But, if I had to single out a couple I’d choose ‘Streets’, I just love the strong groove on this, and ‘Heavenly Plains’, those opening flute lines just shoot straight through me.

If you are familiar with Tim’s work you will love this album even though it is different from everything that went before. If you’ve never heard Tim before I urge you to take a listen. This is an album that will cast a spell on you, the spell only being broken by the realisation that you were under its spell. Let the master lead you along the way of no way, Crossing Over.

Buy Crossing over here in UK, or here in France.

This is the second album I’ve bought of Tim Braggs, the first was “Revamped” , which I love! Crossing Over is brilliant but completely different , it’s relaxing , and totally mood lifting. If you’ve had a bad day this will certainly help. The music equivalent of a great Yoga practice! Love it! ….Roxanne Sutton

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Our band, The Sugaree Band, are one of the bands who’ve been selected to play in the series of concerts put on by the town of Saint Junien here in the Haute Vienne. We are really excited about this. It’s been hard work to get this, but at last, we are in with the in crowd.

We had to submit our ‘Press Kit’ months back. We’ve had to fill in endless forms, form an association, register it, provide all sorts of information, who’s shirts we wear, what brand of beer we like!! 😉 But we’ve done it! Here’s the proof…8th August…that’s us —>>>

Saint Junien, 87, Comme un Effet de L’Art Scene….Concerts musique, chaque jeudi soir pendant l’été dans le centre ville.

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Last time I raced the Haute Vienne MTB departmental championships at St Leger La Montagne in 2008 I punctured on the last lap with 3kms to go. I was in the lead at the time and threw the win away by not being careful. This time it was different.

Here’s how it went – I haven’t raced recently, so I wasn’t gridded. That’s OK, I was just looking for a good ride. I got away OK, the pace was tough, I was middle of the field. On to the first climb, the rider in front of me snaps his chain. Meanwhile Pierre Chenaud (ASSJ) comes backwards with a puncture. This is a tough circuit for bike and body. Just riding round the practice lap had been hard enough, racing it was brutal.

I make a special effort to be kind to my bike, and ride smooth. Not running the chain across the cassette, staying loose over rocks and roots. At the end of the first lap I’m sitting in 2nd place, I have a couple of riders close behind me, and 1st place is nowhere to be seen.

I really want to get rid of the two behind me, so I work a little harder to snap the elastic. I get a gap. I start to catch a glimpse of the leading rider Pierre Barateau (Ambazac Sprinter Club). I’m gaining on him. I catch him on a short steep climb. He’s off his bike. I ask him if he has a problem. “Cramp!”, he tells me. Like I said, it’s a brutal circuit.

So, now I’m in the lead, with a lap to go, and no one close behind. All I have to do is keep it sensible. I ride hard, but with care. My chain is dry and complaining on some of the steeper climbs. I change to a lower gear and spin. The last climb, it’s very steep. Taking no chances I get off and run.

A quick look back. No one in sight. I take it easy down the last desent, and I’m home, winner of the Haute Vienne Departmental Championships for 2013 (over 50 vets)!

I’m pleased! This wasn’t expected. But let’s just put this into perspective. The recent creation of a new category for over 60 vets meant that some riders have changed category. The 40+, 50+, and 60+ vets all set off together, the same start. The 40+ had to do 4 laps, the 50+ and the 60+ had to do 3 laps. Now, combine the 50+, and the 60+ vets! There was just one rider who was faster than me. A whopping 8 minutes faster over the three laps!!! 1:39:27 vs 1:47:43 The true champion, the 66 year old Jean-Claude Sansonnet (Cyclo Racing Club Limousin). Chapeau Jean-Claude!

Not forgetting – Many thank’s to everyone at Saint-Léger-la-Montagne VTT Rando Club for putting on a great race. A superbly tough course! 🙂

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It’s been just over a year since we adopted our little Princess Maya! AKA – ‘The Little Cowbag Princess’, or Mable, or Mabes!, and she’s come a long way. She’s a real character who’s eager to please…herself!!! 🙂 She’s a thief of sausages, and a murderer of chickens! But we loves her!!!

When we first got her she was great with other dogs, and still is, but terrible with people. She’d do this fear aggression thing where she’d bark at people with her hackles up looking really aggressive, but always staying just out of reach. It’s not easy finding volunteer strangers so Carla would set off on a walk with Mabes, I’d dress in disguise, and ambush them! We spent ages trying all sorts of things. We’d take her out for a long walk so that she wasn’t so fresh, then take her where there’d be lots of people. We give her treats for stying calm when someone came nearby. Slowly she’s made progress, and she’s got to the point now where for the most part strangers are OK.

She’s has a number of doggie friends….

Here’s Lulu! She came to stay for a week. They had a great time. Synchronised behaviours with a couple of days. Good and bad. It was such fun having Lulu staying we toyed with the idea of two dogs!!!

Here’s Anetta! He pops around every once in a while. He’s a Berger Suisse also, but he has long fur.

Here’s Gotham! When these two get togther they go completely crazy. It’s not safe to be in the garden with these two! Gotham came to stay for a weekend recently. What a white knuckle ride that was! We were all exhausted by Sunday night. But we’d had a lot of fun.

We took Mabes to her first MTB race yesterday. She was great. Lots of strangers coming up to her, and she was kewl. Plus for the first time, we saw her engage in play with someone she’d only just met. We were so pleased with her. We wanted a dog that we could take anywhere, and she’s getting there.

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“How did the first Jazz Club meeting go?!”, I hear you ask! 🙂

Well, it went very well, better than I hoped! There were eleven musos who played at some point during the evening. Two drummers, two bassists, four guitarists, sax, harmonica, flute, keyboards and three singers. Some of them played more than one thing.

A couple of the songs fell on their face and sounded awful, but for the most part, considering most of us had never met, let alone played together, it was good. It wasn’t meant to be some kind of polished performance, it was meant to be for musicians to get together and have some fun, and that’s what they did. So when the end of Moondance went pear-shaped it didn’t matter, it was good, because every muso involved was grinning from ear to ear!

I was so pleased that it went well. I’d put quite a lot of work in, and in a way, I was glad to get the first one over and done. The enthusiasm was such that it’s now going to be a regular thing, on the last Thursday of each month. So without further ado, here’s the poster -> -> ->

So, that’s, Jazz and Blues at the Giac’s Bar in Saint Junien (87 – Haute Vienne) on 28th March.

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