Itchy Boots Releases First Book: Free Ride
Noraly Schoenmaker, better known as Itchy Boots, has released Free Ride, chronicling her 20,000-mile journey of heartbreak and discovery
If you’ve spent any time down the YouTube rabbit hole of solo motorcycle adventures, chances are you’ve already encountered Noraly Schoenmaker – better known to her legions of fans as Itchy Boots.
Now, the Dutch rider is swapping action cams for the written word, with the release of her first book, Free Ride: Heartbreak, Courage, and the 20,000-Mile Motorcycle Journey that Changed My Life.
The story kicks off in less-than-ideal circumstances. After discovering her long-term partner had been unfaithful, Schoenmaker, then a geologist in her thirties, ditched the nine-to-five and booked a ticket to India. What she found was a Royal Enfield Himalayan and an entirely new sense of purpose.
From there, Free Ride traces her path through Southeast Asia, up into Central Asia, and eventually back to the Netherlands, all astride a bike, and mostly alone. If that sounds romantic, it is. But it’s also brutal, chaotic, and at times deeply introspective.
Noraly’s journey took her across Myanmar’s dirt tracks, into the humid chaos of Thai roads, then on to Malaysia before she packed her trusty steed off to Oman. From there, it was an overland route through Iran, Turkmenistan, the Pamir Highway, and the snow-choked passes of Central Asia. It’s proper overland territory, where breakdowns are common, help is rare, and the scenery is absolutely worth every sketchy mile.
What elevates Free Ride beyond your typical travelogue is Schoenmaker’s gift for observation, and not just for landscapes, but people. From roadside chai stands to cold mountain border posts, her story is a celebration of humanity as much as it is of motorcycles. She paints vivid portraits of the people she meets and the trials she overcomes, all while wrestling with the emotional fallout of a life left behind.
Fans of The Motorcycle Diaries and Wild will find themselves at home here, but there’s a distinct Itchy Boots flavour to the whole thing, plucky, self-deprecating, and refreshingly honest. This isn’t some overly polished influencer memoir. It's muddy boots, dropped bikes, dodgy border crossings, and moments of genuine solitude.
Free Ride is available from 5th June 2025 and is available on Amazon and at Waterstones.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
