Gidi Ride out: The first chapter... (Part II)

Hello guys! Today I'm going to give a blow by blow account of events that took place between the hours of 11:48 hrs WAT on Friday the 17th of March, 2017 and 15:28 hrs WAT on Sunday the 19th of March, 2017. Lol!

Awaiting

Setting off

I'm gonna start off with a big apology to my fellow riders for delaying you guys till 11:35 am. My sincere apologies. Na money waka cause am....

Shall we? Yes! but first let's take a selfie...

I got to the take off point at a little past 11am and them guys were awaiting. Roll call Uzo aka UTown (Road Captain), Mazino aka Maazi, Ash Bakre aka good-guy-gone-bad (just kidding, his name needs no aka), Jackson aka Jaxnwhyte, Sam aka SAAB, our 1 unique rescue_me personnel (names witheld) and my humble self (Sweep). Maazi made a quick dash for a new spine protector, Jackson had to go train some clients and bid us farewell. SAAB also needed to be in Akure ASAP, so he bid us farewell and hit the road while we waited for Maazi. True to his word Maazi was back in no time. Filled tanks, a short prayer and we set off at approximately 11:48 hrs WAT. 

The time was in our favour as the long bridge out of Lagos and the Mowe axis of Ogun state had minimal traffic and in no time we were at the interchange. Sagamu to Ibadan had its trying moments(potholes and uneven surfaces) but on the whole it was a decent ride. Ro4ch's front fender was taking a beating, with the potholes and such so at our first pit stop(Total filling station, iwo road) we put heads together to make sure that was sorted out! Drinks, something to nibble on, Refueling and we were off to the next stop.

Ro4ch recieving some TLC for her front fender...

Our next stop was the infamous Oduduwa University, Ile-Ife. The ride up till this point was above average. Beautiful straight roads, old tar, good grip and a blazing sun all contributed to this score. At some point we noticed Maazi's left hand took on a mind of its own and wouldn't let go of the clutch. Cramps! Your body's way of saying 'Dude you really need water'. A quick stop for water, drinks and a quick stretch of legs and joints and we were on our jolly way again.

Impromptu cramp relief and re-hydration stop.

Oduduwa university and everyone yells 'Pictureeessss' within their helmets, so we pull up and start a-clicking. After permission from the school security of course.  Below are the results.

Add caption

 Done with the pics and we're off to the next stop; Erin Ijesha waterfalls. Now the Erin Ijesha water fall idea came from Uzo who felt 'hey we're in the neighbourhood, we might as well do it'. Turned out to be one hell of an experience. The ride through the village was epic. Set me back like some 25/30 years. The whole resort and tourism experience was kind of dampened because of the dilapidated state of the facility and its environment. But the waterfall was amazing! It was like stepping in a refrigerator made by GOD Himself. After the exhausting long ride, hot fumes, smell of rubber, soot and dust, this was exactly what we needed to re-freshen us. It was such a beautiful experience, we refused to step out. Did I mention that I stepped in with clothes, watch and all? Uzo, Maazi and Ash kept asking why. Little did they know I was trying to retain as much 'cool' as possible for our ride into town.

Maazi do not sit!!!

For where? He even laid down... Hahaha...

Riding into Erin Ijesha town

These three tho...

UTown flexing muscle.

Shhhh... No comment!

Awesome yea? It was so massive, capturing the entire thing was almost impossible.

At about 4:45 we decided to head into Ado-Ekiti for the night, thinking it was a 45min/1hour ride. Now the roads here are a bikers heaven. The curves, the bends, the steep slopes and sudden descents. While we were busy enjoying these, night was creeping up on us. Lo and behold we got into Ado-Ekiti a few minutes to 8pm and settled in our hotel. De Xambdra hotel, within G.R.A. The reception was awesome, the staff were extremely courteous and the Managing director, very welcoming. A brief stop at the poolside for dinner and breakfast reservations and we called it a night.

Playing when we should be heading to Ado-Ekiti.

Maazi electricity distribution company...

Watch out for the little human right there...

Giantism...

Darkness catching up...

Oh the twisties...

Ado-Ekiti. On entry.

Saturday morning, we all jumped up and started preparations for the main crust of the outing. Ikogosi warm springs and boy were we geared up! Aha and Juwon a friend of mine from university came along for this one. We jumped in the support vehicle and off we went to the warm springs resort but first Iyan. LOL! Now Iyan in yoruba simply means pounded yam. It's a taboo to visit Ekiti state and not eat pounded yam. It is after all their native food. With this in mind, we dived in.... hmmm... hmmm... hmmm....

Iyan. Checkout the meeeaaaatttt...

Navigating to the resort was pretty straight forward with Blackberry maps as our assistant navigator, we were there in no time. A few pics, tickets bought and we all trickled off in search of where the hot and cold waters mix.

Fluke

Someone is forming floater.

 Its a pretty massive resort with a pool/refreshment section, living quarters and a lot more. We did some swimming and eating and headed back into town.

FE arrives.

Only to find out another biker had arrived the hotel. Femi aka FE from abuja, enroute ijebu ode. We exchanged pleasantries and decided to ride out in the morning together. Juwon insisted we see what the rest of the town looked like so we headed out in search of the spots in town. Two spots and a few drinks later, we called it a night.

Goofing around...

 

Excuse the googly faces...

Sunday morning was here quickly and we jumped out of bed and did our pre-ride checks. Oh shoot! Support vehicle has a flat, Xerxes needs oil. With support vehicle's tire replaced and Xerxes sorted out, we said our prayers and headed out at approximately 8:12am in search of more road and eventually Lagos. Femi took us thru some sweeeeettt alternative route, which was way shorter but almost got us missing. In no time we had refuelled at Ife, gone beyond Oduduwa University and were in Ibadan where Femi aka Oxide was waiting for us. Felicitations here and there and we geared up for Lagos. Wait! Wait!! Wait!!! Have we eaten today? The unanimous answer was No! So we decided to do Amala by the toll gate.

Farewell Ado.

Just before the return...

Ehen!! Na here we loss....

Now this toll gate Amala deserves an entire paragraph but I'm going to stick to one word. AWESOME!!! After much eating and resting we decided it was time to head home. Dropped FE off at the Sagamu Interchange and faced home. All in all, a good 632km's covered. Awesome ride if you ask me.

Can you dance?

Saying our Goodbyes..

The GIDI Ride out series was born out of the need for riders to really experience motorcycling in "touring mode" and be able to in the same stride, experience the outdoors and experience Nigeria as a people, a nation and a physical location. The GIDI ride out is opened to all riders who have been riding within Lagos, irrespective of your motorcycle club or political views. Lol! 

A very big shout out to all our current sponsors:

Qadre Communications - Nigeria's #1 Social media gadget retailer @qadcomm on twitter and Instagram

Luxury Autos - Luxury on wheels - 08108777611 @luxautosng on twitter and Instagram

BSi - Biker Safety Initiative - @bsi_ng  on twitter and @bikersafetyinitiative on Instagram

D2RJ - Reliable biker safety apparel - @d2rj_ng on Instagram

 and of course

Rescue Me Lagos -  Leave no biker behind - @rescue_me_Lagos 

The GIDI ride out II is brewing already...

For participation, sponsorship, advert... Give us a shout out to @bikersoflagos on twitter or instagram, a call/text on 08150228999 or simply leave a message below