Free Ride

Heartbreak, Courage, and The 20,000-Mile Motorcycle Journey That Changed My Life

By: Noraly Schoenmaker

Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE BEST TRAVEL BOOK OF 2025

By the YouTube sensation with three million followers, the inspiring account of a young woman 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 thirtysomething geologist living in the Netherlands when she learned that her live-in partner had been having a long-term affair. In desperate need of a new beginning, she decided to quit her job and jet off to India. But 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.

First, she set off 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 Tajikistan 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, and a new and unshakable belief in her capabilities.

Free Ride 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.

Raw Emotion Behind the Scenes

The book was a lot like watching a season, but with a lot more detail. It was fascinating to hear about each leg of the journey and the raw emotion behind each of those adventures. The writing is fantastic and the narrator is very talented. I hope you will write another book.

This woman is amazing

I love how she keeps doing it when others might turn back. I’m just impressed with her perseverance

A journey of personal growth. And a motorcycle.

There are plenty of motorcycle adventures tales to satisfy any avid or aspiring motorcyclist, but this one exceeds many in its sense of raw adventure. It’s a story of human relationships, and kindness, and the common thread that runs through all of humanity.

Good story, needed different narrator.

The whole entire book I wished Noraly was narrating it. We travel along with her in her YouTube videos and I wanted to hear the book in her voice and her accent. She would have correctly pronounced all of the mispronounced words and place names in the book that really bothered me. I loved her story, but the narrator really detracted from it. I had such a hard time getting into the story and a lot of the time I was paying attention to the narrator’s voice instead of what was happening. I hope that if she writes another book she will narrate it. My recommendation for others is to buy the actual book and read it yourself instead of listening to it.

A must read for motorcycle lovers

I have been waiting for the English version of Free Ride. It is well written and makes you want to ride into different countries