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Annie Londonderry, a 24-year-old housewife from Boston, became the first woman to cycle around the world in 1895, finishing within the 15-month limit despite learning to ride just days before. In contrast, Amelia Earhart’s solo flight across the Atlantic in 1932 made her famous.
Amelia Earhart rose to fame in 1932 by becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, but Annie Cohen Kopchovsky (later and more famous as Annie Londonderry) did something equally impressive nearly 40 years earlier. By bet, the 24-year-old housewife from Boston became the first woman to go around the world on a bicycle. Not only did she leave with no money and she finished the trip within the 15-month limit, but she did so after learning to ride a bike just days before embarking. And she made it too after a long detour at the start of the trip. Londonderry rode from Boston to Chicago on a 42-pound (19 kg) women’s bicycle and was so exhausted that she considered giving up. Instead, she traded her her bike for a much lighter men’s bike and returned east to New York. From there she sailed to France and made her way to Asia before finally returning to the United States, via San Francisco. Six months after cycling, Londonderry reached Chicago again, completing her journey in September 1895.
Ride:
Nearly half of all workers living in Copenhagen, Denmark cycle to work.
In 1995, Fred Rompelberg of the Netherlands set the record for the fastest speed on a bicycle, going 167 mph (269 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Susan B. Anthony has called bicycles “freedom machines,” arguing they’ve done more to empower women than anything else in history.
