
Free Ride
Heartbreak, Courage, and the 20,000-Mile Motorcycle Journey that Changed My Life
Noraly Schoenmaker(Author)
August Books (Publisher)
Published on 21. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-83598-274-7 (ISBN)
Description
The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller
By the YouTube sensation with more than three million followers, the inspiring account of a woman in her thirties who, in a moment of personal crisis, embarked on an epic, transcontinental motorcycle ride and along the way found a new sense of purpose.
Noraly Schoenmaker was a thirty-something geologist living in the Netherlands when she learned that her live-in partner had been having a long-term affair. Suddenly without a place to stay, she decided to quit her job and jet off to India in search of a new beginning. Her plans were dashed when she fell quickly and helplessly in love: with a motorcycle. Behind the handlebars, she felt alive and free nimble enough to trace the narrowest paths, powerful enough to travel the longest of roads.
She first rode toward the Pacific, through the jungles of Myanmar and Thailand, then into Malaysia. Rather than satisfy her appetite for the open road, this ride only piqued it. She shipped her bike to Oman, at the base of the Arabian Peninsula, and embarked on a journey through Iran, across Turkmenistan along its border with Afghanistan, over the snowy peaks of Central Asia and into Europe, all the way back home to the Netherlands. She covered remote and utterly unfamiliar territory; broke down on impossibly steep mountains; and pushed too many miles along empty roads, farther and farther from civilization. But through her travels, she discovered the true beauty of the world - the kindness of its people, the simplicity of its open spaces, as well as her own inner strength.
In spirit of The Motorcycle Diaries and Wild, this is an inspiring story of self-discovery and renewal. Filled with unforgettable figures, hilarious disasters and powerful human connections, it shows you what happens when you open your heart and let the world in.
'In no-frills, from-the-heart prose, Schoenmaker crafts exhilarating evocations of rarely visited landscapes...' BBC
'An inspiring and often-thrilling ode to healing on one's own terms.' Publishers Weekly
'Required reading' New York Post
By the YouTube sensation with more than three million followers, the inspiring account of a woman in her thirties who, in a moment of personal crisis, embarked on an epic, transcontinental motorcycle ride and along the way found a new sense of purpose.
Noraly Schoenmaker was a thirty-something geologist living in the Netherlands when she learned that her live-in partner had been having a long-term affair. Suddenly without a place to stay, she decided to quit her job and jet off to India in search of a new beginning. Her plans were dashed when she fell quickly and helplessly in love: with a motorcycle. Behind the handlebars, she felt alive and free nimble enough to trace the narrowest paths, powerful enough to travel the longest of roads.
She first rode toward the Pacific, through the jungles of Myanmar and Thailand, then into Malaysia. Rather than satisfy her appetite for the open road, this ride only piqued it. She shipped her bike to Oman, at the base of the Arabian Peninsula, and embarked on a journey through Iran, across Turkmenistan along its border with Afghanistan, over the snowy peaks of Central Asia and into Europe, all the way back home to the Netherlands. She covered remote and utterly unfamiliar territory; broke down on impossibly steep mountains; and pushed too many miles along empty roads, farther and farther from civilization. But through her travels, she discovered the true beauty of the world - the kindness of its people, the simplicity of its open spaces, as well as her own inner strength.
In spirit of The Motorcycle Diaries and Wild, this is an inspiring story of self-discovery and renewal. Filled with unforgettable figures, hilarious disasters and powerful human connections, it shows you what happens when you open your heart and let the world in.
'In no-frills, from-the-heart prose, Schoenmaker crafts exhilarating evocations of rarely visited landscapes...' BBC
'An inspiring and often-thrilling ode to healing on one's own terms.' Publishers Weekly
'Required reading' New York Post
Reviews / Votes
In no-frills, from-the-heart prose, Schoenmaker crafts exhilarating evocations of rarely visited landscapes... * BBC Travel * Required reading * New York Post * Schoenmaker's grounded optimism adds poignancy to her sometimes-fraught experiences - including being catcalled in Iran - and her conversational prose mimics the feeling of receiving regular travel updates from a close friend. It adds up to an inspiring and often-thrilling ode to healing on one's own terms. * Publishers Weekly *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Canelo
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
220 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83598-274-7 (9781835982747)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Noraly Schoenmaker
Free Ride
Heartbreak, Courage, and the 20,000-Mile Motorcycle Journey that Changed My Life
E-Book
06/2025
1st Edition
August Books
€6.99
Available for download
Person
Noraly Schoenmaker is the creator of Itchy Boots, a YouTube channel with more than three million loyal subscribers. A motorcycling obsessive, her journeys have taken her the length of the American continent, from Argentina to Alaska, from the northernmost point of Europe to the southernmost point of Africa, and to some of the least traveled regions of the globe. Trained as a biologist and geologist, she is based in the Netherlands.