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| Friends of the Pacific Electric Trail |
The beloved bicycle has transformed
transportation since the early 1800’s beginning with the penny farthing, a two
wheeled contraption in 1817 that was wooden and didn’t even include a bike
chain, brakes or pedals. It was heavy
(50 pounds) and riders would have to propel the heavy frame forward by pushing
off from the ground with their feet.
Finally, things changed in 1885 when Englishman John Starley perfected a
“safety bicycle” design that featured equal-sized wheels and a chain
drive. The bicycle promises a splendid
extension of personal power and freedom.
Several years later, Anne Cohen Kopchovsky decides to prove that
bicycles aren’t only designed for men, she instinctively knew that a
woman could ride as far as a man. She entered into a bet to ride her bicycle
around the world, and the rest they say is history.
I am always delighted and surprised when I uncover an inspiring
bit of history that tells the story of cycling and in this case from the
woman’s perspective. Anne is my new Shero,
for having the vision and tenacity to prove to herself and the world that the
bicycle can be enjoyed by everyone.
First woman to cycle the globe begins
journey - June 25, 1894
Her adventure began with a bet.
In 1894, a gentleman in Boston bet another gentleman, $20,000 against $10,000,
that no woman could travel around the world by bicycle, a feat that had been
completed for the first time by a man in 1885. Although it is not clear why
she was chosen, Annie Cohen Kopchovsky set out from
Boston on June 25, 1894, to attempt the journey. Married and a mother of three
children under age six, she was an unlikely choice but a good example of the
ways that the bicycle was transforming women's lives. Besides providing women
with a respectable form of independent transportation, the popularity of the
bicycle led to changes in women's dress, for example, as bloomers replaced
unwieldy and inconvenient full skirts.
Under
the terms of the bet, Kopchovsky, who had ridden a bicycle for the first time
only days before her departure from Boston, was supposed to begin her journey
penniless, earn $5,000 above her expenses along the way, and finish her trip in
fifteen months. Her resourcefulness was in evidence from the first day. On
her way out of Boston, she hung a placard advertising Londonderry Lithia Spring
Water Company from her bicycle and accepted $100 from the company's
representative in return. In addition, she agreed to be known as Annie
Londonderry.
Kopchovsky,
alias Londonderry, reached Chicago in September, and there she nearly gave up
the trip altogether. Ultimately, however, she traded in her 42-pound ladies'
bicycle for a men's model that weighed half as much, and set out again in the
opposite direction, headed back east. She sailed from New York for France in
November. In France, Kopchovsky earned money by carrying advertising on her
clothing and her bicycle as she rode the main streets of Marseilles and other
cities. Later in her trip, she would give lectures in which she embellished her
story with lurid details of accidents, near-death experiences, and dangers
narrowly averted.
Because
the terms of the bet did not specify how many miles she had to ride, Kopchovsky
sailed from Marseilles all the way to East Asia, with brief stops in Egypt, Sri
Lanka, and Singapore. After a tour through China, she was in Japan by March. On
March 23, she arrived back in the United States through San Francisco Bay's
Golden Gate. Over the next six months, she bicycled across the southwest, great
plains, and Midwest, reaching Chicago on September 12, 1895, just under fifteen
months from her original departure from Boston, and only ten months after her
re-departure from Chicago.
She
had done what the Boston gentleman had bet $20,000 no woman could do. Not only
had she circumnavigated the globe by bicycle, an astounding athletic feat, but
she had done it alone, proving that a woman could make her own way in what was
still very much a man's world. Bucking the entrenched gender norms of her day,
she had fended for herself and survived physical injury, mechanical problems
with her bicycle, and the scrutiny of the press. In Chicago, Kopchovsky collected
her $10,000 prize and then rejoined her family. After a move to New York, she
wrote sensational features for the New York World for a time,
including an account of her trip. She seems to have then retreated to family
life, raising her three children, and largely disappearing from the historical
record. She died in 1947.
Sources: Peter Zheutlin, "Chasing Annie," Bicycling,
May 2005; www.annielondonderry.com/.
Anne inspired me to set new goals for
riding my bike, what inspires you to make bicycling a regular part of your
exercise and fun factor? Please comment
below.
Friends of the Pacific Electric Trail
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