FREE RIDE

By the YouTube sensation with more than two 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 pus