The Road Roar SCAN Convention from Dicta's eyes
*Ride With Me.*
Goal: *The Nigerian Bridges Tour.*
Accreditors: *www.toughtourers.org*
Starring: *HUNTA (Honda VFR1200)*
The Nigerian Bridges Tour is all about touring the beautiful Nigerian landscape on a motorcycle whilst being recognised as a *tough tourer* by Tough Tourers. It is one of the several challenging bike tours on www.toughtourers.org
It involves getting to 25 Bridges within Nigeria which must include *5 Major Bridges* namely
1. *The Niger Bridge at Onitsha*
2. *The Niger Bridge at Lokoja*
3. *The Niger Bridge at Ohunene*
4. *The Niger Bridge at Jebba*
5. *The Benue Bridge at Makurdi*
_Day 1_
The mission: *Onitsha Bridge* done✅
_Day 2_
The mission: *Lokoja Bridge*
Having done the *Onitsha* bridge in a day last week, I embarked on the conquest of the 2nd major bridge today. Prepped up and ready from the previous night, my alarm failed to wake me up as agreed😝. Woke up late and finally left home at about 8.30am. Topped up fuel at Total (abraham adesanya), readjusted my gears, fixed the ear phones🎧, tuned to 91.3fm📻 and I finally rolled out at 9am!
The stretch to Epe was uneventful except for topping up the air in the tires. This made the bike handling nimbler.
Epe to Ijebu-Ode went by swiftly as the weather was coolncalm☁☁ and no forecast of rainfall☔. Hitting the Ijebu-Ore expressway and the ride starts....potholes, buses, irritant drivers, crudely filled potholes and empty trailers/tankers doing over 100kmph!
I had decided to ride a steady 150kmph average ride bcos
1. This is a tour (smell the flowers💐 & soak in nature⛰)
2. My rear tire was looking.....kinda one kain sha😇
So I maintained my pace whilst Cardi B was "Bodak Yellowing" in my midbrain🙃. With the pace and bad roads all was kosher(no sudden avoidance or emergency swerves) untill about 170Km where the new asphalt presented itself before me🙌🏽. Without my consent, Hunta moved to steady 188kmph😁 and
Day 3
Mission: 1. the Ohunene Bridge over the Niger River.
2. The Makurdi Bridge over the Benue River.
Having had to change hotels from Fen hotel to Halim hotels & towers Lokoja (both budget hotels but Ava had a nasty receptionist & their Acs weren’t working), I settled in at Halim for the night. A quick meal of indomie & eggs, water, wiping down my gears and I was in bed to sleep.
Morning comes, I geared up checked out, had a brief ride discussion with Hunta as per route and ride mode (still on Zarco mode – my rear tire was turning to slicks in the middle so managing the tire was essential) and rolled out of Halim hotels by 8.00am. Having asked for directions to Ohunene through Ajaokuta the day before and crosschecked with google maps, I was soon out of the town. Came across this bridge with red&white poles, stopped to check in this bridge on the Tough Tourer app by android, took a picture with the picturesque background and I was back on the road. Rolling through this back road was sweet, with the view, calm weather, twists & turns and I had Runtown, Mr Eazi & Yo Gotti serenading me. Hunta was purring melodiously beneath me and the symphony was beautiful. Paused to take a pic of the mountains and the smooth road. I got to a check point, hailed the cops and moved on…had to turn back and ask for directions which the cops obliged. Further asking a transporter, he directed me to take a route which was a private road but avoids the bad road to the bridge. Getting to the junction, I realised it was a road through the Ajaokuta steel rolling mill….what beauty! Gate was opened and I was ushered into this well tarred boycott! Had to stop for the papaprazzi 20mins later or so I burst out to the main road again and to my left is the Ohunene Bridge! 55Km only ! Pausing to felicitate with soldiers at the check point and on to the bridge. Stopping in the middle of the bridge and checking in on the TT app, taking pictures and appreciating mother nature, I noticed there was another bridge further up river…..hmmm…not today! I’m back enroute through Adoma, Ejule, Allomo, at some point, the road disappeared and it was full off-road mode with struggles for traction, stability and position with the trailers, trucks and cars…..the good thing was that it was dry. I could handle the dust it would have horrid if it had rained! Onward to Otukpa…then Otukpo, Aliade (I stopped here for refreshment sprite, water and Alabukun :D ) whilst I was chillaxing, a biker on a Concourse ZX14 zoomed by, the locals brought my attention to him, tried getting his attention but he didn’t notice and Hunta was camouflaged by some local okadas, regaling them with our exploits. Rested, I tried making friends with a 3 or 4 year old boy who was fascinated but he ran away crying….I had to follow him to his dad to make peace…he was cajoled with duchy for sweets!…. and onwards to Makurdi about 59Km! this stretch was fairly ok with smells of an old railway town giving me nostalgic feelings…I grew up within the railway environment and always in love with the engines. Rolling through Makurdi heading to the bridge, I run into the biker who had passed at Aliade…..Yankari…Yankari he hollered….I’m like what? Oh! He was asking if I was heading to Yankari….hmmmm…..a lot of thoughts ran through my mind in the split second of my response (I had decided earlier to head to Yankari after the Benue bridge, to sleep in Jos and continue the next day with no plan or provision to ride with anyone)….yeah I said. He said he was heading that way too but wanted to eat if I could wait cos he didn’t know the roads…..I told him I had a bridge to tag and would wait for him at the other end of the bridge. He said Ok and off I went tagging. Got to the bridge over the River Benue, stopped in the middle for checking in, pictures and souvenirs…an okada man with his family stops by to photo bomb my shots I obliged him and he rode away happy. Whilst taking the pic, I noticed a more spectacular bridge with vehicular traffic and knew I just had to get to it! What to do? Now I have someone to think about! I headed back to look for him…fortunately we met as I headed back into the town. I explained further to him that I had another old bridge to tag and he said OK! I didn’t know it was the Railway Bridge!! We found our way to the bridge, took pictures, checked in and caused some traffic (it was quite narrow). This was a dual purpose bridge (Rail and Road) completed in 1932 for £1,000,000 before the new bridge for vehicles was constructed.
Check in done, we headed out of town to the next fuel station towards Lafia. At the station we got to know each other better. He was Obinna coming from Port Harcourt, he was meant to have started the trip on Thursday the 2nd but he broke the sump of his bike on Wednesday and spent the whole of Thursday fixing it hence the roll out on Friday. He was heading to Yankari and that was his DESTINATION!! He also complained about being in pains, stiff neck etc….i’m thinking….hmmmm….anyways, I’m Dicta, counting bridges from Lagos and that’s Hunta my noble steed. He’s bike had no name and wasn’t in the mood for introductions. I introduced him to the wonders of a sachet of Alabukun with cold water after a meal and we were off. We agreed that if we got to Jos by 6.00pm we would continue to Bauchi, this was about 3.15pm. We then hit the road to Lafia. I was point and he swept. In a short while I wasn’t seeing his lights in my mirrors….i had to be checking my mirrors every time to keep tabs with him….this wasn’t the plan for me. It was distracting and dangerous for me. I slowed to 150kmph and still he was in view….further down to 110 and then he came into view..so we maintained this pace….not friendly for me because cars were beginning to catch up and overtake me and I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Moreso, having to always check my mirrors was cramping my orchestra with Hunta. Anywas…we ride!
We got to Lafia and filled up then continued to Akwanga….between Lafia and Akwanga, his bike starts to stutter….oh my word! “whats wrong I asked”? One plug ain’t firing he responds…ok. We sail through Akwanga and onto the Akwanga-Jos road. At this point, I told him to just keep coming straight and blazed off (the road would be upset if I didn’t) enjoying the straight road for about 30mins or so, I then park to smell the bushes and capture the mountains, this was 5.19pm. Moments later Obinna passed. And so we continued like that till we got to the junction leading to Jos at 5.47pm. Here we had Bananas and water, peed, Obinna poured some water on himself and we resumed.
About 30Kms later we were in the mountains with sharp curves and the temperature dropped from 29c to 24c!! I started to freeze and was looking for all the cover I could get (my leathers being perforated weren’t helping)..then I wondered what Obinna was going through being wet! At this point, his bike was getting worse, he also said he couldn’t see with his lights…so I had to stay close to him in front to guide with my lights. With this formation we entered Jos at 6.53pm. At a fuel station in Jos, we filled up….I stated that we should anchor here for the night and continue tomorrow but Obinna would hear none of that! He had to be in Yankari that night!
Oh well…..as long as we are riding I’m good. We left Jos past 7pm and headed to Bauchi with me leading. On the outskirts of Jos at a checkpoint, we saw a Gold wing bike parked…I wondered why and stopped to enquire. The military guard there explained that ‘’one of us’’ ran into another but the riders were ok and had proceeded to Yankari, leaving the bikes in their custody…. Cool I said. Checked the plate no..it was ’’AirBender’’ wow!! I hope Jack is OK.
Bauchi is about 130Kms away, good road with straights, twists and curves…..none of these could be enjoyed as we were moving at about 60kmph (one other plug had joined the strike on Obinna’s bike). I also had to ride beside him so we could both see with my lights. Now keeping a steady 60kmph for hours would take its toll on my hand, thank God I don’t have a clutch to worry about! Hunta wasn’t happy and I could feel the grudge welling up from beneath me (we are going too slow Dic!! Not safe at this time of the night! And I’m freezing! Cool e down I calmed Hunta… there’s a brother we need to support to the end.)
I speak the Hausa language so stopping in the middle of the night to ask for directions or information was not an issue and somehow, I felt very comfortable in this environment and did stop to take pictures at some village with the locals at about 8.40pm.
We got to Bauchi at about 9.45pm, then looked for a fuel station to fill up and resumed our conquest…..Yankari must fall today!!!
Yankari was only about 110Kms to go but we didn’t want to know this, we just wanted to keep riding till we got to our destination. The Bauchi – Gombe stretch was not sooo good. It had badly patched potholes, lots of them. At a military check point exiting Bauchi, the soldier on guard stopped us and complained that we did not stop when he told us to….I apologised that we did not understand the sign language…he then reminded us that this was the North East….it was a HOT zone….BH territory…we should be guided! Hmmmmm….then it sunk in….BH zone! I notified obinna that we had to increase pace as thoughts of kidnapping, ransoming, torture, escapes etc started going through my subconscious. We had dropped to about 40kmph now. When we got to DINDIMA junction, we stopped and I asked for the direction to Yankari and distance remaining, we were directed and told it was about 70km!! yeeepa! I refused to believe. We continued.
Along the way, whilst in front, I noticed a car behind Obinna, whose lights would go off and come on where there where pot holes…hmmmm…this happened like 3 times and I signalled Obinna he didn’t seem to understand so I opened up ojare! He seemed to sense my trepidation as he also picked up pace quickly and in minutes we were gone. The road became straight and smooth so we settled in and continued sailing when suddenly out of nowhere the Yankari gate appeared! Yippee!! We made it!! Time was 11.01pm. I knew that the 70km those guys said was not true! We stopped and identified ourselves, tickedour names off the list and I called our guys that I was at the gate. Ok, which gate was the response….hmmmm…what do you mean ‘’which gate’’? then I was informed that there are 2 gates which are 40Kms apart!! Mogbe oooooo!!!!!!
We then sorted ourselves and resumed the final 40Km stretch. It was comforting that it was a controlled stretch and the road was damn strait!! however, another environmental hazard was that we were in the game reserve (Beware of Animal crossing signs announced their presence)…this meant a Hippo could take you out for disturbing their snooze! With that in mind we rode steadily but carefully. We only came across 3 Deer’s who were having beers in the median of the road. They looked up, gave a thumbs up and resumed their business. I couldn’t stop for a chat or autograph cos one hungry lion might have been stalking the deers…..
Then at about 12.45am, we arrived!! Glory to God!
Hooked up with the Road Roar posse at the Wikki warm spring pool, had some bbq goat meat and retired for the night.
890Kms of Touring from Lokoja to Yankari done, 2 major bridges tagged, surreal riding with an awesomely HARD Obinna enjoyed!
It was a good day!
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