Channel your inner Annie Kopchovsky on International Women’s Day
We root for all women pushing boundaries. Whether they achieve an incredible sports performance, expand their work horizons, rock motherhood, or juggle all these things at once: we see you and we salute you. This International Women’s Day we want to put a very special female in the limelight.
The woman we want to kick this tour de force off with goes way back in time. 1894, to be precise. The name Annie Cohen Kopchovsky might not ring a bell, but we’re sure you’ll remember her from now on. Annie was the first woman to cross the globe by bike. As many stories do, this whole adventure started in a pub after a few drinks. A guy from Boston bet another guy that no woman could ever travel around the world by bike. Annie stepped forward to prove these fellas wrong.
She was a married woman with three children under the age of six at the time and therefore not the most likely candidate in that day and age. But she went. She cycled from Boston to Chicago, sailed from New York to France, and later on from France to South-East Asia. After a bike tour through China, she reached Japan and set sail again to the United States. When she arrived in the bay of San Francisco she jumped on her bike again to return to Boston to return fifteen months later after the journey of her life started.
This Annie not only had impressive leg muscles but also quite the brains. She figured she could attach an advertisement to her bike to make some money along the way and gave lectures about her adventures while cycling through France. What a legend. So the next time you’re fighting the headwind (or the patriarchy) - channel your inner Annie.
Want to read more about remarkable women? Read our blog on Marianne Vos; world champion winning cyclist
About Swapfiets
Swapfiets is the world’s first ‘bicycle as a service’ company. Founded 2014 in the Netherlands, the scale-up quickly developed being one of the leading micro mobility providers in Europe with 280.000 members in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Spain, Austria and UK.
The concept of Swapfiets is quite simple: For a monthly subscription fee, Swapfiets members receive a fully functional bicycle or e-mobility solution for their own use. If needed, a repair service is available within 48 hours to repair or directly swap the two-wheeler at no additional cost.
