Once we had eaten, and everyone was set, we were road bound and set off at about 9 am. Our route was to ride from Offa, Osogbo, Ede, Gbongan, Ikire, Ibadan, Sagamu, Lagos.

Heading out we stopped to fill up at the NNPC station in Offa and then set off.

Heading from Offa to Osogbo was quite tricky as we were more often than not rolling on roads which were under construction, “it seems Osogbo is one big construction yard lot of roads being constructed or revamped”. We hit Osogbo in an hour and went on a merry go round cos road works meant roads were closed and we had to find alternative routes.

In looking for alternative routes, as a sharp guy, i left my visor open lo and behold my first fly in the helmet experience when on the highway. Its a not a funny something o, I was perturbed and almost overwhelmed with the buzzing in the helmet and had to make an emergency stop to save myself. Of course my guardians were there to sort me out FD and Maestro. Once i sorted out the helmet we rolled off and caught up with the others “they had waited further on” and we continued out of Osogbo through to Ede (nice breezy and fun ride).

Journey took us through to the Ife – Ibadan expressway. This leg of the trip was serene and smooth with plenty of fast riding all the way through to Ibadan where we hit quite a bit of traffic between NBL and Iwo Road round about. While filtering through the traffic, a pedestrian crossing without any care ran into Dicta’s bike and broke the right side mirror ( I could see fire coming out of RC’s nose and ears fortunately Kanu rode up diffusing the situation). We then rode onto the Lagos – Ibadan expressway which is undergoing construction, this was the hardest part of the trip (even harder than the Oyo – Ogbomosho stretch) because I was riding in position 2 right behind the RC and boy o boy Dicta moves in motorcycle through thick and thin. Because of the road construction there were points on the Ibadan to Ogere stretch that required a lot of visioning, good judgement and a brave heart. I was baptised that day (I rode to Ibadan and back alone a week after this trip). There was a point where i was overtaking a trailer on the rather rough side of the rode and right there the road suddenly went rougher, wetin man wan do na, so you increase your speed get past the trailer and bring your bike onto the road (o’ boy my heart cut o but Liver was intact).

The rest of the journey through to Lagos was cool. Lucky for us traffic was light and we made very good time. We ended the journey at the Cauldron in Alausa with thanks to the Almighty for journey mercies and looking forward to doing it again.

Ikogosi, the wonder of nature, where warm water springs out from the earth and meets up with another cold spring then continuing in unison. The “GOSSY” bottled water is gotten directly from the warm springs. We also learnt that the resort had just been renovated by the Ekiti state government to world class standards. What’s not to like?

The call was sent out and responses were gotten, a day was picked JULY 4th and preps went into gear. In attendance Sheyi, Korede, Dayo, Kanu and I.

Friday the 4th of July came and we were all set DEMON (Ducati 848) was the first to arrive at the take off point – Autoshop, I got in next FDD (VFR1200), SMOKE (Gixer 1000), came in next before 2 DOER (GS1200) reported. By the way, July 4th is 2Doer’s wife’s birthday…….

MAESTRO (FZ8) sends in a text that he’ll be 20 minutes late and instantly our VC (BMW S1000RR) proclaimed a fine – a bag of rice to be donated to charity on Sunday the 6th.

Maestro finally shows up, we complete bike checks, prayed, took our numbers and rolled out. I put DEMON, not having ridden in a while, as point so as not to put any pressure on him whilst 2DOER swept the rear.

Our route was Autoshop-Ikorodu-Ijebu-Ore-Ondo-Akure-Ikogosi.

Off we go! Sweeping through Ojota to Ketu to Mile12 to Ikorodu, the ride was smooth as construction of this stretch was in its final phase. On the outskirts of Ikorodu towards Itokin town point positions were swapped as DEMON was not too conversant with the route. Taking point, we glided through these villages to Ijebu where we got onto the Ijebu – Benin expressway. Maintaining our ride formation and cruising at touring speed of about 160kmph we glided to Ore. Just before Ore, a freshly tarred black road presented itself to us and SMOKE and I honored the invitation.  We arrived at Ore and waited for the others. When the wait was getting too long, we saddled and rode back and barely 10 km backwards, we met with the others coming. SMOKE and I turned around and headed back to Ore. All arriving at Ore we pit-stopped at a fuel station where we fueled up and topped up with bananas, groundnuts, sandwiches (packed by SMOKE’s wife), water and some Kola-nut for me.  We were also informed that Demon had a slow USaD and lost his gear lever in the process. So we got into engineering mode and Maestro the mechanic came through! Through his ingeniousness, a makeshift gear lever was patented and we rolled out again.

Heading towards Ondo, the patent failed its test and fell off there by slowing down DEMON because gear changing wasn’t easy (he had to be using the heel of his boot to change gears) this rippled on to the group and led to the pit stop at Oremeji-Sawmill along Ore-Ondo road where we took some pictures.

Taking off after DEMON and MAESTRO passed, we eased into Ondo town. Navigating the town, we continued to Akure, twist and turns not overly enjoyable because of high traffic flow. At Akure we had to reconfirm directions to Ikogosi because at this point it was becoming farther than expected. Confirmations done, we hit the Akure-Ilesha road. About 1km after the FUT Akure main gate we saw the Igbara-Oke entrance which we turned into and continued to Ikogosi. After almost 30km, we were ushered into the awesomeness of the beauty of Mother Nature. There nestled in the mountains and dense foliage of the rain forest was the Ikogosi Warm Springs resort.

We spent some time at the gate taking pictures before we rode into the resort to check into our rooms, bath and look for food! It was a tiring journey.  We had covered 350km and spent 7hours!

After settling into our rooms, we had dinner some chats and all went to hit the sack! I couldn’t sleep because the skitos in my room had hidden the duvet and sabotaged the air-conditioning so I had to get the front desk to send in the exterminators. While extermination was ongoing, I walked around the resort and was opportune to see some Ikogosi bugs in their nightly glory.

Kolanut in your system can also hinder sleep o! Dawn came and we went to see the warm spring. I must say, it is truly awesome!! We were taken round by our tour guide who also explained that the pool was supplied by the warm springs as such, the pool is eternally warm! Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to swim (there must be a return match o!)

Tour completed, Maestro the Mech in his usual resourcefulness has gotten a local to provide him with available tools with which he fabricated another patented gear lever for the Ducati and this time it passed the SON test!

We had a very OK breakfast (better than Avalon Offa)  and around 11am we said our goodbyes to the locals and rolled out.

Routing through Ilesha-Ibadan-Lagos. We had planned to stop at the Erin-Ijesha waterfalls but not know where exactly we blew past the turning and continued to Ilesha. The dual expressway availed us some stretching of legs and clearing of cobwebs from the crevices of our engines and by 12.30 noon we were on Ife-Ibadan expressway. Whilst doing some good time, along Wasimi village, I noticed that my bike was suddenly getting heavy oh s#*t!! I knew my rear was down.

Demon and Smoke who were ahead of me didn’t see me stop so they continued. I came to a stop and parked checking my rear tire to find that it was flat! Michelin Pilot Road 3 had failed.

Forgetting to have packed my repair kit, but fortunate to have stopped opposite a vulcanizer, who happened to be in Ibadan at that time…bad news! So I waited for 2Doer and Maestro. They came by, they saw, they stopped. We agreed that I should ride the bike like that to the next vulcanizer about 1km away and 2Doer left to wait ahead, he’d also sent Demon & Smoke a text on our situation to keep them posted. I tried moving but it was impossible so Maestro suggested that I pump the tire and ride to the next vulcanizer. So we pleaded with the care taker of the nearby pumping machine and pumped the tire. Whilst pumping, I heard the leak sounds and thought it could be fixed. Maestro agreed and gave me his tire repair kit and so I fixed the 1st hole, we pumped and another hole announced its presence. Fixed that one and yet another said “present boss” after fixing 4 holes and one more hole said hello we knew the tire had to come out for proper vulcanizing!

So the tire was pumped and I rode it to the next vulcaniser who thankfully was around. There the removal of the tire and patching commenced. 1hour, 5 blocked holes, tire eating eba and taking pictures later we were done and rolled out.

Ibadan came quickly and we hit the Lagos expressway. Now, I hate this portion of the road i.e Ibadan toll gate – Ogere toll gate because of the rim bending potholes and Ninja rough roads so I was taking it real easy coupled with the 5 patches in my rear tire I just couldn’t risk it. At about 5km to the middle toll gate, 2Doer & Maestro zoomed by because they needed to be in Lagos earlier and my pace wasn’t doing it. So I continued with my pace till the middle toll gate after which I picked up a bit. On getting to the Sagamu interchange, I had planned to go on the new road so prepared to get on it.

Unfortunately for me, I picked a point where the height of the edge was about 120mm my front tire went over it but the rear did not and before you could say “RC” I was on the way down. I tried using physical strength to stop the bike from going down but was too tired to muster the required amount so I gently allowed gravity win this battle. Having watched several videos about lifting heavy bikes at the Riding school, I applied the simple technique and she was back up on 2 wheels. Saddled, started and I was back on the road. Encountered an annoying “bumper to bumper” traffic from Redeem through Ofada till Mowe it took a lot of restraint and patience to keep going. Finally getting to the long bridge and I opened up like there was no tomorrow!

Got home at about 5.30pm, tired and worn out, confirmed everyone had arrived, had a bath and logged out! Total trip was about 660km, loads of experiences, lessons and pleasant fun. Would surely do Ikogosi again and soon too!

RC

Please Note: This was after some pretty hard negotiation with family members.

The take off time was supposed to be 9 am from Foto Dadi’s yard and I got there with plenty of time to spare had tyres gauged and was ready to roll, alas our RC and Maestro took there pretty time getting to the take off point and we then had to sort out RC’s bike (tyre had multiple holes and needed some extreme penetration, filing and refilling.

Take off was at about 10 am and the route was Ikeja, VI, Epe, Ijebu-Ode, Ago Iwoye, Ibadan, Ilorin Offa.

The route from Ikeja to Epe was smooth our normal traffic filled journey up to Ajah and the road opened up for our waka to Epe. From Epe we followed a completely different route to Ijebu Ode passing through some iconic villages and very interesting scenery but the sun was hot and I was cooking and already asking myself how I go survive this waka o.

We got to Ijebu Ode around 11.45 pm and had a fuel stop over where I immediately went looking for water and minerals aka soft drink. We also took time to clean our various visors ensuring sound visibility. At this point I was riding in the number 3 posiition with Dicta (RC) in 1, Kanu (SG) in 2, Maestro in 3 and Sobag (VC) in 5.

We left Ijebu Ode with our full tanks and headed for Ago Iwoye; immediately all the Bikes left my tata koko in their wake (I think all of dem were just showing me that na me dem dey pity for road o). We ride along exiting to the Ago-Iwoye road which looked fantastic brand new dual carriage way but the joy was not to last as all of a sudden shio, I was in a sea of dust no single tarmac in sight (thank God it was not raining and it didn’t rain the night before). O’boy this dust na waya o but this guy started rolling with everyone allowing each other a gap of at least 100 metres because visibility was soo bad. Suddenly out of no where two dump trucks obviously racing one another appear one heading directly for me, that’s me going straight into the side of the road and coming to a complete stop. Damn, those fuckers wana end my ride before it starts (I BIND THEM IJN) and start moving again only to see Dicta had stopped in-front to ensure everyone escaped the racing baggars.

Ago Iwoye and back to tarmacked roads. As we turned of to join the Ibadan road, Sobag misses the turn and continues to zoom towards Ijebu-Igbo. Masetro (Yamaha FZ 8) and Dicta (Honda VFR 800) take off after the Yellow Bullet (BMW S1000RR) and I hope they catch him quickly. We waited for about 10 minutes for the return (that BMW must be sweet to fire o).

Trip to Ibadan was quite quick averaging with Sobag staying behind sheparding this JJC along the way all the same I pushed the bike as hard as I could so as not to keep the long gone guys waiting for too long.

Trip through Ibadan town with Dicta in the lead and Amanor running in number 2, this our RC na the essence of biking ooooo, the bros no dey turn gently the turns are always like a dive bomber waiting to take off. Scary incident as approached Mashad Power Bus Stop (for those of you who know Ibadan lol), I was behind the RC who went right and overtook a trailer ahead of us, seeing an opening on the Left, I was in the process of opening up to pass when the trailer suddenly slammed on its brakes forcing me to squeeze a bit too hard in the emergency brake situation (thank God for ABS). Lesson don’t follow too close and always have a line of sight ahead especially behind long articulated vehicles.

Ibadan to Oyo was a breeze I had Dicta for company on this stretch of road while the others had zoomed away in hot pursuit of speed and one another. I pushed the bike as hard as I could topping 165 kph on flat grounds (180 kph on a descent).

Oyo to Ogbomosho was quite interesting took a lot of skill and patience on this stretch cos we were sharing the road with all sort of characters (trailers, okada’s, danfo’s, taxi, mini van’s etc). Kanu kept me company on this stretch going ahead at times on tight corners and giving ample notice to proceed with caution and speed. My wrist and fingers were beginning to hurt by this time and I was trying as much as possible to reduce the amount of clutching I needed to do (Lesson: I need more finger and wrist exercises bought myself one of those spring grips). At last we got to Ogbomosho and had a fuel stop and mini break. The five bikers in town became the centre of attraction with cabbies, bikes and humans stopping to have a look, take photos etc. People even had conversations on how they could drive their cars faster than any of the bikes leaving the bikes smelling dust.

Ogbomosho to Ilorin was fast everyone left me o with Kanu offering to use his leg to push me along (LOL) I politely declined and rode at my 165 kph. The bike at this point also gave me some signs that the clutch maybe slipping but I was not sure and so focused on nursing the bike as much as possible. We got to Ilorin and stopped to take pictures and stretch our legs most importantly the other guys waited for me in Ilorin.

Ilorin to Offa was single carriage and very busy so we were all bunched together on this leg of the journey. Offa seems to be a town cut off from the rest of Kwara State. All the roads in Offa are bad, deeply gutted and if it was raining will be very impassable. We touched down at Avalon hotel Offa at about 4.20 pm and after traveling the many hours, we were greeted by the gate man with please park your bikes outside. Off course these people received a lecture on the issues around customer service and the expectations that employers have in relations to their employees and service orientation.

And so the day finally came, the 30th of May, 2014. Another tour about to commence to the Emirates of Ilorin. At the last minute, the destination had to be changed to Offa, due to the non availability of decent hotel accommodation in Ilorin as the result a government official getting married.

Take off venue was re-routed from the Ride Easy Superbike School to Auto-Shop and take off time was planned for 9am prompt.

I arrived some 10mins late having had punctures in my rear tire but I wasn’t going to miss this ride. Sobag, Kwesi and Kanu were already set to leave, so we waited further for Dayo who eventually showed up about 30mins late. Dayo and I were going to be fined and it won’t be easy oooch!!

The leak points in my rear tire started whispering to me I refused to heed their call and was advised to double the sealing material to shut them up! (I didn’t know you could do that!) so I quickly unpacked the tire repair kit, reopened the holes, doubled the sealant and packed the holes shut! That done we were set.

Taking riding numbers I was lead while Sobag swept, we agreed on where to meet up, next fuel stop, prayed and rolled out of Autoshop. Lest I forget, we had Kwesi with us who was riding out of Lagos for the 1st time on his 750cc Honda. His ride report will follow soon.

Being a work day, we encountered traffic on 3rd mainland bridge. But past that, we had a smooth run till the Lekki toll where we reassembled and continued. We got to Epe and took the bye-pass which took us through Epe local government onto the Lagos – Benin expressway. Crossing over towards Ijebu- Ode, FD called for a halt and advised we go through Ijebu – Igbo, we hit the express to Ijebu – Igbo. Stopped for fuel on the expressway and veering off at Ilisan – Remo, took the dual carriageway into the hinterlands. We came across a graded laterite road which threw up loads of dust, FD, who was leading was raising some real good dust while we trudged behind.

Clearing this section (thankful there was no rain), Sobag and Dayo took a tangent to our turn and went towards a village I can’t remember the name, and I had to do the chasing to bring them back.
Through Ijebu – Igbo to Ago-Iwoye, past OSU and unto the beautifully smooth Ijebu – Ibadan single carriageway. We opened up here, enjoying the shaded cover from the trees on both sides of the road and got to Ibadan in a jiffy, turned unto the expressway and headed straight down to Ojoo where the new roads leads majestically to OYO town through Fiditi.

On this Ibadan-Oyo road, every one opened up! The bigger CCs showing the smaller CCs their plate numbers! And disappearing. It is always fun on this stretch.

Avoiding the detour that took us through some uncharted roads the last time, we stopped in Oyo town to fill our tanks. Oyo came in a flash and it was back to the face-me-I-face-you to Ogbomosho road with the twists and turns. Oyo -Ogbomosho took all of 45 minutes, through the town and it was back to the dual carriageway to Ilorin. Getting to the bye-pass to Ilorin, we had a pit stop to stretch legs, titrate, enjoy the scenery and back on the road. Since we had no accommodation in Ilorin, we said our passing bye-byes to the Emir and proceeded to Offa. The road was the least enjoyable but thank God the potholes have been sealed which mad this stretch bearable.

After about 6 or so hours and 467km, we arrived at the Avalon hotel in Offa where we dropped anchor for the night. My tires held up but showed signs complaint by the time I was parking in Avalon hotel.

The night was uneventful except for 2 guys who came to wash the bikes at about 2am and didn’t finish till the about 7am. Being an “environmental” day we had planned to leave by 10am but upon discovering that the hotel had no buffet breakfast as advertised we decided to leave earlier until we were told that there was “environmental” in Offa too. So we ordered breakfast.

My rear tire had gone down again so we had to “Okada” lift a vulcaniser into the hotel to help with filling the tire up again with air. That done we rolled out of Avalon at about 10.00am. We also had a Lunch invite at a new joint in Lagos. As we readied ourselves for departure, we found there was another biker in the hotel who had come in that morning. Turns out Kayode, The Don, from HRMC, Port Harcourt, on a visit to his kids at a near by school from had heard we were in town and hunted us down. We hugged shared some stories, took some pictures and said our goodbyes.

Made Oshogbo in 45 minutes, taking the bypass to boycott Oshogbo town we headed to Ibadan. There was some road reconstruction ongoing (the government is working o), which slowed us a bit but passing through Ode-Omu where we took in the historic town, and Gbogan, we hit the Ibadan-Ife expressway. Our journey to Ibadan was smooth with Dayo, FD and Sobag blazing away while Kwesi and I brought up the rear.

We fueled up at Mobil Ibadan except for FD with the long range VFR and taking the last stretch back to Lagos.

Docking at the Cauldron in Alausa at about 1pm we were just in time for the Launch and lunch at the Cauldron! For the return we covered 363Km so totaling 830km covered.

All in, it was a good smooth ride, as we look forward to the next epic road tour.

Yours,
Dicta

We spend 18 hours flying and transiting and eventually land in Faro, Portugal.

Clearing immigration and customs quickly we are out at the arrival hall. Scanning the pickup drivers, I spot one holding the BMW logo. Our eyes make contact and there is instant recognition as we start walking towards each other. Pleasantries exchanged and we are in the taxi headed for Vilamoura and our hotel.

Evan from ORS greets us at the lobby. There will be a briefing at 9pm. All is good. And we are so so excited.

Go up to our room and enjoy the beautiful view and we freshen up. 7pm and we head to the restaurant for dinner. 9pm comes along quickly and the briefing is given. Riding starts at 9am the next day and I am in the “Fast Group”. Briefing done and its back to our room to sleep and rest.

7am and the alarms wakes us up. 730am and I am having breakfast. 830am and the bikes are all lined up outside the hotel as promised. I am so excited. I have bike number 57 and I am sitting in her soon enough. She does feel a bit different from mine and I eventually figure out that it must be on account of the lowered foot pegs and raised handle bars I have on mine.

We ride out to the fuel station and are all filled up then its off to the tracks. Standing on the pegs and riding the trails. I feel a bit stiff but slowly it comes to me. Enduro Pro mode is on, Traction control is Off. Will leave the ABS on and on these new GSes, the ABS is a miracle…and I expect it will take a miracle for me not to drop the bike

Day 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 pass like a blur. All we do is wake up and ride all day. Its amazing and at the same time awesome while still being a bit scary. Riding with people reveals that we are all basically the same. There are great people everywhere. Lutz and his friend John who have done this 2 years ago. Howards who describes himself as the electrician who sits behind a desk…a too doer to the core with a habit of getting into “trouble” so much so that “its Howard’s fault” became a sing song for us all! Chris and Brian, the Canadians! Lol…always with the remarks that would crack us up! John and Laim, birds of a feather that flock together bunching up to smoke their cigarettes together. Ian, the quiet Welshman who is also an ex BMW instructor and advanced Rider Trainer in Wales. Then there was John with the open face white helmet.

The high points of the trip…or rather the low points. EVERY ONE makes mistakes! And I mean Everyone. From stalling the bike on a 60degree uphill climb to ploughing the country side with the boxer engine. In our group, none of the mistakes is the type we can’t walk away from but others are not so lucky in the other groups; 2 dislocated knees and a broken leg are the outcomes.

On the whole, it’s a great time and more importantly, we got to meet the most wonderful people.

Day 6 is Saturday and we are in the shuttle headed to the airport. Everyone is quite with thoughts of the great time we have just had. With thought of work again on Monday!!!

Conclusion……We can’t stop riding!

I hadn’t been riding for very long and had learned, from my mechanic, all the bad habits that could potentially put me away for a very long time. Needless to say it was a 5 minute lesson, teaching me basically what the controls could do and not much else. Fast forward 12 months and I stumbled on a couple of guys on Facebook talking about the legendary ride Blanks (as he is known to them) did from Africa to Europe..as they spoke I said to myself… “abegi make I hear word, how many p*ick e get? No be to mash the meshine till you see oyinbo land? Nothing dey there” but no matter the perception there is a method to every madness. So I said to myself “if you wan climb tree no break waist, make you learn from monkey wey don do am before” out of curiosity I signed up at the Ride Easy School. The idea being to boost my confidence enough to ride long distances etc..  After the lessons I knew two things for certain first I was never going to ride long distances any time soon and secondly, I had been riding rubbish and it was only a matter of time before I hurt myself. Anyways that’s a bit of background so we know I was no expert and my confidence was at an all-time low before embarking on this trip to Ilorin.

….at the beginning

Kwesi sends me a Whatsapp messaging asking if I was coming on the first ride round to Sagamu through to Epe ..I said to myself.. “see your mouth like Epe, you and who? if I wound na you go pay? Dress far bobs” but I politely told him I was not included in the email group and thus was too short notice for me… I dodge am….and I dodge am neat and I sure as heck wasn’t going to any Jos, so my story no go ever finish for this waka… or so I thought.

Few days later, the 8th of October to be exact Biodun sends out an email about going to Ilorin on the 15th and 16th of October and the only reason I looked at it twice was one reason and one reason only… ILORIN. I went to high school there and hadn’t been back in 25yrs. Besides I liked the price of the waka…much cheaper than if I had stayed in Lagos and no I am not half Ijebu either…so I signed up to go at the very last minute and with a lot of apprehension to say the least…in other words “fear tie me double wrapper, gather me waistcoat join”

So still I wasn’t 100%…I am naturally more superstitious than Okonkwo son of Unoka from Umofia so I always watch for the signs from the “gods” before I embark on anything whatsoever. The first being my daughter and wife were having none of it…”ehn? Travel to where? And leave who alone to raise two children on my own? mba nu” she says.. “Never”.

Ride Day 15th October

3am and its starts raining heavily and so I woke up and said to myself…my chi is speaking. If this doesn’t stop I will abort the ride. 4am Thunder begin curse lightening mama na im rain no gree stop…5am it didn’t let up and I sent a message to Amaka, since she lives near me, to touch base on this and if I should abort. As shame no go let me back down where she believe say make I soldier on. She says to me “ride will go on…this na rain? na shower be this na” Cant remember who it was and he sends an email saying he had an emergency and couldn’t make it…”Chi” speaking with sign number 3…I say to myself “you sure say you no go pull cloth go sleep? No be over feeding be this?” But the thought of a ride to Ilorin and the photo effect was overwhelming…besides if it’s raining on this end and it would have stopped in Ikeja. So off I go with no rain gear. I get on my bike (everybody still dey sleep for house) and I head to Ikeja… thinking the rain would have stopped by the time I get to 3rd mainland at the very worst. No such luck it rained all the way to Epesok and then some… I was the first to get there and my first instinct was to turn around and go home… “heck it’s raining no one is going to turn up right?” WRONG. Kwesi and Biodun turn up before I could make up my mind…dang! No escape.

Egbon Yinka turns up and says it his anniversary and wouldn’t be coming along< sign number 4> and Kwesi says his clutch is bad… I said to myself “now why didn’t I think of that?” <sign number 5> Anyways Kanu calls and says he would be late (he got fined for that BTW) and Chibuzo had just come in… still it was raining…”hian these people no wan throway this waka? I go soon form diarrhea o”… Kanu turns up and off we went…

Road captain was riding point, I, as a newbie, was given number 2 and Segun was 3. Chibuszo, 4 and Kanu 5. “ah ah? “ride formation” ke? I thought they said riding in groups was dangerous and more often than not they ran into each other, with this ride formation that rumour is false na? kuo?” ABSOLUTELY… I settled down into it a little bit and become comfortable… By the time we passed the tollgate traffic i had forgotten my fears and focused more on the ride and started enjoying it. It was raining too hard to push it on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and for the first couple of minutes we couldn’t really go fast (not the aim anyway) because it was wet and muddy. By watching Biodun I soon learned how to use the wind as Visor-wiper/cleaner by turning my head slightly to the left and right so the force of the wind help clear the mud and water off my visor thank God for that as visibility was becoming a concern…

Coming out of the traffic, Segun and Chibuzo don open engine pass wetin oyinbo make am as they were no were to be found. Biodun and Kanu were breaking-in their engines so couldn’t go too fast…ope o… weather improved by the time we started approaching Sagamu by which time I had forgotten I originally wanted to stay home. The adrenalin rush was at 100%…at some point I started screaming in excitement in my helmet…I stopped so I don’t scare bystanders into relocating … The ride all the way to Abeokuta was pretty good and I settled in well… to the point I had regained my long lost appetite and remembered something…breakfast!

Breakfast was absolutely FREE as Kanu had to pay a fine for being late…much to my dismay this was my first trip by road outside Lagos in at least 10yrs so I wasn’t sure what the rules were concerning the bush and the leaves being used as a substitute for a bathroom and toilet paper… na e i respect myself no chop much. If not, free food??? na today?? I be wan sample everything from meat pie to snail via stockfish and pounded yam and Egusi..

Time to continue… small problem. I had carried a backpack as opposed to harnessing my bag to the rear of my bike, this was no matter at inception because I had other things on my mind but after breakfast and I had relaxed into the ride, the bag all of a sudden felt like a ton of bricks on my back. I remembered seeing on another bikers thread a comment about “failure to plan and spoiling the ride for others…blah blah” so I wasn’t going to ask we stop to buy straps or ask if anyone had any… if na today the back wan cut then by all means make e cut..I must see the end of this waka. All die na die, na not to dey among, participate or at least try your best to try when you don chook head inside any waka na e be the nonsense die… Despite a pre-existing medical condition I have, I bone the pain the bag was giving me… bobs… the ride was too enjoyable.

The ride through Odeda, Ogun and Apataganga were pretty simple and the roads were quite reasonable considering na naija we dey… Ibadan was pretty calm and as expected 5 “pawa” bikes turning up at the same time was bound to create a bit of a spectacle with shouts of “baba o” here and there… “baba o” abi? Come try carry this heavy load wey dey my back let see how baba o you feel afterwards… well to be honest this my 5 mins of fame is not bad at all…

The ride continues into a lonely road in Oyo with rough terrain…hold on, please tell me it’s just a bit of sweat running down my ears… no, it can’t be…at some point when I lost visibility because of the rain I had opened my Visor…do I wear a balaclava? No , never… so for my trouble a fly has made its way into my helmet and was having a jolly good fly around in my ears…”calm down” I tell myself “e go soon tire, ear wey I no clean as normal with cotton bud this morning? The fly go soon faint no worry” as much I tried I had to stop to take the helmet off for relief else I lose concentration from the discomfort or worse still I go mad. Biodun was way ahead so Segun, Chibuzo and Kanu stopped as well to find out what was wrong. Fly was shooed away… ok so remember now we’re in Oyo and well you can’t really blame me can you?

Then I looked up ahead and saw this big mountainous rock ahead of me… I mean, it’s a rock right? And it’s big isn’t it? I turned to Segun and asked “that’s Olumo Rock isn’t it?” You need to have seen the shock horror on his face but he is polite I must give him that. He calmly turned to me and said in an even tone.. “no it isn’t. Olumo rock in is Ogun state” how I wan take know? I be Geography teacher?

…I digress

Oyo to Ogbomosho via Fiditi was quiet interesting and my inexperience came to fore when I tried to overtake on an inner lane… no not on a dual carriage road, on a single carriage road. The car looked rickety enough and I figured I had speed and acceleration on my side right? WRONG. Soon as I moved into place he remembers his own lane to avoid a pothole and on coming traffic and almost swerves back into me… EASY RIDING… nothing a little application of the brakes a prayer and all what not cannot cure. Still waiting to hear what Segun has to say about that as I saw him shake his head several times after that… I mean I am new… its allowed.

Well!! Not really. Lessons learned. Kanu says to me when we get to Ilorin.. ”two word I have for you… “ESCAPE ROUTE”… “You box yourself in too often” na him know bobs… the waka sweet pass… sweet pass ehm pass… e sweet pass EVERYTHING.

Ogbomoso to Ilorin: Heck Yeah!!! That’s was really something . I mean the road be like abroad bobs… not a single pothole and nobody for miles. As usual Segun and Chibuzo took off breaking formation as agreed and, well, let’s put it like this… I stepped on it on Biodun’s cue and I mean stepped on it… no seriously… return of he Jedi type stepped on it… and guess what? I learned a great lesson… no be by CC if you like carry 5000cc bike if you no get mind, experience and skill… dem go dust you like small pikin. I mash am mash am mash am so tey I got to 230KM/H and I still couldn’t catch up with them. And I mean seriously at some point I lost sight of them. Then I heard Segun and Kanu’s voices in my head during pre-ride brief “ride your own ride” yup! dem no dey tell blind man say market dey burn…I stopped trying to catch up and focused on my own ride… the Easy way. That stretch is one I wouldn’t be forgetting in a very long time. It was something else. The rest of the trip was great and the weather was fair, good roads all the way in and we were in Ilorin in no time. The guys did a lot of looking out and it’s much appreciated. I initially started off with a lot of fear and apprehension but YEAH it was great fun and then some…

Next stop JOS…… you know I am going to go. If rain like make e fall from now till next year.

To be continued

Part II ..the journey home.

RONIN

The day finally came but started with heavy rainfall. Thoughts of abandoning the ride never even crossed my mind! Got to the Epesok, take off venue, to meet only Ronin soaking wet! Rain or Shine, we ride! Amanour and the Chief Whip (Engr Yinka) came to see us off, Sobag rode in followed by ConyLuv. This was about 8.00am. A mail from Dayo says he couldnt make it and FD calls to say he’ll be coming in a little late so we wait.

9.30am all in (ConyLuv, Sobag, FD, Ronin and I), we pray, had our brief, ride numbers and off we go. By the way, Ronin, riding a 2012 Suzuki Hayabusa would be riding out of Lagos for the very first time! FD was breaking in UR2DO while I was breaking in the brand new engine on the VFR1200FD.

Heavy traffic from Berger to the Long bridge and onwards we all had to meander through the traffic which didn’t clear up till the sagamu inter-change. Reassembled, we rolled on the lovely Sagamu-Abeokuta expressway arrived at the breakfast point (Sweet Sensation) around 10.30am we had a lovely breakfast which was paid for by FD as a fine for his coming late to abd preventing us to starting at the pre-determined time. He was heavily fined!

Breakfast done, we saddle up and head out. Through NNPC to Asero, we hit the Old Ibadan road in formation and it was riders bliss! the road was smooth, empty (Sallah break) with twists and curves only seen in the Mullholand Highway of California. Cruising into Ibadan, we traversed the ancient town till we got to the Conoil fuel station before the great University of Ibadan. We fueled up, FD still paying his fine for everyone’s fuel, rolled out through Ojoo onto the Ibadan-Oyo expressway. At this point, Sobag, Conyluv & Ronin opened up blazing by to savour the black tarmac. FD and I slingered behind enjoying our own jolly ride.

Oyo in no time, smooth and new road finished we got on to the Old. Time to meet construction works on the route. Taking a detour, we went on a road unknown to any of us but the call for adventure was too strong and we continued. This back road took us way off track unto some uncharted roads passing right in front of FGGC Oyo, Ronin had a “fly in the Helmet” issue calling for a stop. We bursted onto the Oyo-Ogbomosho single lane carriageway and some twists later were in Ogbomosho. Went through Ogbomosho town, hit the dual carriageway to Ilorin, another round of blasting by those who could, took pictures with the scenery and 336.6 Km later we were in Ilorin.

While Sobag, ConyLuv & Ronin opened up again on the freeway, Ur2Do and I had to remain below 5,000 rpm! It wasn’t funny but blissful still.

Got to Kwara Hotel at about 3pm, checked into our rooms, snoozed a bit and assembledby the pool side for some R&Rs.

We moved to the Ariya bar where we had a sumptuous meal, some chilled drinks, I went for a pedicure while R&Rs continued, we all turned in by 11pm.

Day 2

We had already agreed on our take off time which was for 8.30am after breakfast.

By 7am we were having breakfast buffet style! by the way, the hospitality was awesome at Kwara Hotel.

8.30am and we were ready to set out. Same ride formation and we set out. Smooth ride, same route back to Ibadan. At Ibadan, FD continued to lagos since he didn’t need to fuel up. The plan to to meet up with him. We fueled up at Mobil and got onto the Ibadan-Lagos expressway. the road was quite horrible with loads & loads of potholes got to redeem and faced traffic from Ofada. we sailed through and got into Lagos around 1pm 366 Km later, where everyone went home happy, fulfilled and ready for the next tour!!

Ronin I believe had a great time riding out of Lagos for the first time and is already looking forward to the next tour which will be to…………………….

Assembled at Epesok Paper mill by 7am where Sobag, FD, Amanor, Easy, Prince Adedeji, Engr Yinka, Saidu, Dayo, Tayo and I. Saidu couldnt find the key to his R6, his Z750 was not ride ready…….what to do? He found the Key and determined to ride, promised to gear up and hook up with the Trike Master in VGC so they could meet up with us at Epe.

Ride brief, ride number, prayer and we were on our way. Point to note, there were 5 “expressway freshers” on this ride. Going through Berger to Mowe, Ofada Redeem was a breeze as we all kept to the staggered formation.

Past Redeem, unto the 10Km bumpy stretch to Sagamu and the ride slowed down to an average of about 50kmph.

Making the bend at sagamu onto the Sagamu – Benin expressway, we opened up the pace to a steady 150Kmph looking back in my mirrors I could see Easy and Amanor coping with ease.

Past Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode Junction, we had our 1^st stop at the Epe Junction off the Benin expressway. Dayo and Fd caught up (apparently, Dayo hadn’t fueled up before the ride). # mins later Prince and Engr Yinka caught up with the Varadero and GS1200.

We reassembled and continued on our tour. This route to EPE had to be taken slow due to the “not so smooth tar surface”. Turned off to Atlantic hall frontage to meet up with the Trike & R6 but they weren’t there so we continued to Sobag’s Country home and got there at about 9.30am

The country home was most impressive with a large beautiful and well maintained landscape, a garrage for the bikes and cool breeze to refresh the soul.

So we parked our steeds and proceeded to the living room for breakfast.

Breakfast was succulent sandwich with malt and soft drinks to wash it down.  20 minutes later, the Trike and R6 rolled in, parked and and joined us at the table.

It was refreshing to just sit in the morning mist and gist. There was a President turntable which we thought would provide some classic tunes but there was no pin to spin, we made do with Tayo(Kapitan)’s classic tunes from his phone.

Having had a wonderful time, we saddled up again to complete out tour. Now 11 in number, we split into 2 groups with the RC, Easy, Amanor, Saidu and Akin (the Triker) in one group while Sobag, Prince, Engr Yinka, Tayo, Dayo and FD made up the second group. Taking our numbers and riding out, group 2 gave us a 5 minute lead.

Ride back VGC was smooth maxing out to about 140 kmph. The Trike does move! We all gathered at VGC where Akin and Saidu peeled off, Engr Yinka too. The rest of us then rode C-Style to Chibuzor the chairman’s house for a brief visit and ended the ride there.

It was a refreshing ride.

Bikes on the ride: VFR800, VFR1200, S1000rr, N750, Z1000, Z1000s, GS1200, Varadero1000, Z1200rr, R6 and CanAm.

ToTal Distance: 250Km

Weather condition: Cool

Dicta RC

mBlack BoT

We eventually get to the border, although some of us get separated.  I clear all formalities in no time, and it’s time to go!  “Bye guys”!  And I am off!

Cross over to the Benin side of the border, and the adventure begins!  I have already cleared all formalities, but am stopped as I am about to leave the border.  I show my papers but the official there says my papers are wrong and that I have to pay to pass him.  “No sir, I will not pay.  Instead, we can go back to the Customs Post, and I will do the right thing!”  So we go back, and he is told that I am ok and should be allowed through!  My first ‘mini-adventure’… and so, so early on my trip!

…..The story is actually quite a long one but if you are ready for it….download PART 1 here, PART 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 4 here.

Riders from Lagos, Ibadan  and PH did the ride Abuja.

Stay at home Internet bikers not present at ride. Oops.

Met up with Oyiza, UR and Osk at Abuja.

Flyboy, foto, Fidelis already in Abuja and itching to roll.

Rider roll call

• Foto
• Flyboy KK
• The King
• Orags
• Bixx
• Tonye Bode
• Logs O
• Fidelis
• Ranti
• Godfather!
• Inyang Effiong

Now aka ‘Fenris the Feared’ (just for the trip)

You want pictures? Are you paying?