She Went On A Bike Ride Of A Lifetime in 1894, And She Was The First Woman To Bike Around The World
You may have heard of people in history who traveled around the world via boat or plane. But do you know who the first woman to ride a bike around the world was?
She was known by many as Annie Londonderry, and in 1894, she went on the bike ride of a lifetime when she rode around the world.
Annie was born Annie Cohen Kopchovsky in Latvia in 1870. She and her family moved to the West End of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1875.
Annie married a peddler named Max Kopchovsky and had three children with him over four years. They were a working-class family and stayed in the local tenements.
Annie had read about Thomas Stevens, a British man who was the first to travel around the world by bicycle in 1884.
She was inspired to be the first woman to take on the challenge, even though she was a beginner at riding a bike. Annie had reportedly only had two to three lessons on how to ride before her trip.
In 1894, Annie announced to people that she would be going on the trip to become the first woman to travel around the world via bicycle, and she took off on her journey that June at the age of 23. She wore a long skirt and corset as she peddled out of Massachusetts.
While on her journey, Annie accepted a $100 sponsorship from the Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Company in Nashua, New Hampshire, which was when she started going by Annie Londonderry.
Annie started gaining publicity for her ride, which was how she made money along the journey. She sold photographs of herself and would make stops in public places on her bike to give talks.
deagreez – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
At one point, Annie had ditched her skirt and changed into a men’s suit for the duration of her journey.
On her trip, Annie traveled via boat when absolutely necessary, but other than that, she rode her bike everywhere.
She used up all the attention she received and told fascinating stories about hunting tigers in Asia and dodging bullets in other places, like a real show-woman. Watching her ride a bike on her own around the world was very liberating for women at the time.
Annie finished her journey in Chicago in 1895. She returned safely to her family. They eventually moved to New York City, where she died in 1947 in her late 70s.
Annie went on a remarkable journey and proved to tons of people that women were just as capable of doing what men could do during a time when they were often doubted.
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