EP 2 – Annie Londonderry Kopchovsky; first woman to cycle around the world
Imagine the 19th century... women wore long, flowing skirts. The "protests" for women's suffrage were gaining momentum. At the time, it was still completely scandalous to wear trousers. Women's sports? Let's not even talk about it... yet Annie Londonderry completed a round-the-world cycle tour, making her a pioneer.
Annie Londonderry, defiantly
Annie, a Latvian Jew living in the United States, works as an advertising agent for Boston newspapers. She has three children and is dynamic and persuasive.
At a time when global adventures are multiplying, Annie wants to prove that women are just as capable as men of achieving great feats.
She bets that a woman can cycle around the world, as the British Thomas Stevens had done about 10 years earlier. The goal is to complete this world tour by bike in 15 months.
She learns to ride a bike 2 days before departure!
Having learned to ride a bicycle two days earlier, and wearing a long skirt of the period, Annie said goodbye to her young family and set off on a 19 kg women's bicycle on June 27, 1884.
She carries with her only a change of clothes, a pistol, and a sign advertising Londonderry (her sponsor). Annie is 24 years old.
In 1894, two wealthy men from Boston bet that no woman could cycle around the world unaided, and they were pretty sure they would succeed. This was the beginning of Annie Londonderry's adventure.
In 1894, women didn't embark on such wild adventures, nor did they "abandon" their families for more than a year. She found support in the bicycle manufacturer and Londonderry brand Lithia Spring Water Company. They asked her to use their name as her surname for the trip.
As the trip progressed, she earned money by advertising – pinning brands on herself and sticking signs on her bike. The start of sponsorship!
In September, bad weather blocked her in Chicago, and she wasn't moving fast enough. This is a turning point in his adventure.
She trades in her bike for a lighter, single-speed model without brakes. She opts for bloomers and even a men's cycling outfit.
In November, she boarded a boat for France, where her bicycle was confiscated by French customs. She crossed the Mediterranean to reach Egypt and then Yemen before heading east to Asia.
It reached Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, China and Korea before reaching Japan in early March 1895. From there, she takes a boat that takes her back to the United States.
Annie Londonderry, a pioneer
On September 24, 1895, she returned to Boston to be with her family.
" Miss Annie Londonderry arrived in this city this morning after a round-the-world bicycle tour. She has a broken arm, the result of a bad fall in one of the western cities ," the New York Times announced in its edition of that day.
Her winnings and newfound fame allowed Annie to move to New York with her family.
She published several articles in the New York Times recounting her exploit, which she described as "the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman."
"I am a journalist and a new woman if that term means I think I can do anything a man can do," she wrote.
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She was the symbol of the free woman, of a woman as capable as a man. Annie Kopchovsky was a pioneer of women's cycling, but also of the concept of sponsorship.
Sources www.outdoorrevival.com / We Love Cycling