PRODUCT REVIEWS
AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 121more than a few crazies along the way,
o en wondering how they manage to
a ract them. Isaac’s grey-nomad parents
meet them in Bowen and shout them to
a comfortable room that serves only to
confi rm that Monkey and the Faceless
Man have become so addicted to their
unencumbered life on the road that
they can’t deal with luxury anymore.
The force of the outback hits them hard,
and Isaac’s descriptions ring true to
anyone who’s been out there, especiallyon a motorcycle. He was taken by the
realisation that “there is no silence in the
world like 5am in the Australian desert”.
Their strong mateship is rarely
tested, though it has its moments and it
evolves over time until they’re forced to
split and Isaac fi nishes the ride alone.
Then there’s another evolution as Isaac
becomes a solo traveller, making his
way across the remoteness of north-
western Australia.
The whole adventure is related in anirreverent, sometimes crass way that’ll
be too much for the most conservative
of you. The rest of us, whether we’ve
ridden on many adventures or are yet
to set off for the fi rst, will get a lot from
it. The Faceless Man is a travel story and
a spiritual journey, but it is very much
rooted in biking. Isaac’s love for riding
gives his book the crucial connection
with people like you and me so that
we’ll get it. “As excited as I am to see
and experience the new places on this
journey of epic proportions, I am most
excited about simply spending that
much time on my bike on new roads,”
he writes. “Riding motorbikes
transcends words.”AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 121EXTRACT: FREEDOM
“Monkey and I burned out of the
servo. Wild and uncompromising as
we rode on into the west. Just past
Cloncurry the road started to rise and
we began sweeping through a series
of undulating low red hills and valleys.
The bikes held at perfect balance as we
leaned into long sloping desert corners,
then gear-shifted up as we passed the
apex to tear out of the other side. It was
stunning riding country. We had crossed
hundreds of kilometres of low desert
shrubland and were now climbing again
into a rippling small desert mountain
range. Crossing over peaks and riding
through red canyons, then blasting
the girls out at one hundred and forty
kliks along the straights. No speed
limits here. No laws. Just two riders
on a highway, journeying together into
the heartland of mother earth and the
rainbow serpent.
“It is much easier to feel freedom
as a natural state when you are doing
something that is truly free. People sit
in their boxed offi ce jobs in clothes they
hate to wear, and then go home and
have a screen tell them how to think.
Then they ask themselves why they do
not feel free.
“Freedom is an active and current
choice.
“There we were. Monkey and I, eight
hundred kilometres into the desert
riding motorbikes through a mountain
range. Face masks and sunnies on,
tearing through this untamed place.
“Some things you do will leave a
permanent imprint on your soul.”
— Isaac Oosterloo, The Faceless Man“This trip wasn’t Isaac’s first adventurous ride — not after
his formative travels in Asia and India — but this one is new
and big for him, the ‘most epic journey of my life’.”DETAILS
Visit http://www.isaacoosterloo.com Isaac’s
website or jump on http://www.fi shpond.com.au
to purchase in Australia.ARR112_120-123_Testing.indd 121ARR112_120-123_Testing.indd 121 2/3/2015 9:53:08 AM2/3/2015 9:53:08 AM