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AroundTheWorldOnTwoWheelsByPeterZheutlin

Page history last edited by jerry 12 years, 7 months ago

AroundTheWorldOnTwoWheelsByPeterZheutlin

 


 

Introduction/Definition/etc

 

A cross the world trip, first by a woman, before the right to vote,

showing men a thing or two, not to mention journalism

about sensationalism of the time, and maybe even

her own distant family...

 

 

Body

 

The story of Annie Londonberry's Extraordinary Ride,

subtitled "one woman, one bicycle, one unforgettable journey"

A Jewish Mother of three, married, living in Boston,

named Annie Kopchovsky, Mrs. Kopchovsky,

sets out after working as an Advertising sales person

at a newspaper, on what is described as a bet,

for within 15 months, to travel around the world on a bicycle,

originally a 40 pound Columbia, later a much lighter Sterling,

when she made Chicago from Boston, biked back, or so

it appears, she took trains as described allowed in the bet,

and steamers, boats, across most of India and Asia,

a war going on, ended, just before she arrived,

but she created wonderfully inaccurate copy

all the way along, aparently the way

newspaper journalism was done at that time,

pre internet, just having telegraph, expensive

at that, and the globalization, considered at the time,

pre Wright Brothers, Airplane, steamers, and

the "plucky" woman of 23 or so, made her way

around the world, as feminism, really suffregett (sp?)

(woman's right to vote) and Victorian attire,

she taking men's riding attire as practical

and riding a men's bike, in Bloomers,

to the aghast of many women, though the

men seemed to enjoy it...

 

She was prohibited from taking any gratuity,

but could ear her money along the way,

being the first female to advertise, streamers,

ribbons, and new last name Londonderry was

the water company that sponsored from the beginning,

League of American Wheelman, (later non sexist,

LAB Bicyclists) and bikes called wheels,

ironically enough now cars are called that,

but the freedom and rebellion that is a biker,

most fearing for her safety, questioning her

ability, and her femininity, built up muscles,

and tanned from exposure, much less the non traditional

clothing, and the social norms of the time, so much

like today's car dominated society, how could someone

think of doing such traveling...

 

Her bicycle was equipped with an odometer like device,

tracking miles, as she went from Chicago, the earlier

bike was not possible, she was ready to quit,

laden down with corsets, petticoats, etc,

heading to the Midwest in late fall, turning back at

Chicago, along the routes she just went,,

contacts already made,  this account written by a

distant relative, who didn't know he had an great grand

aunt or something similar, finding his personal history as he

is diagnosed with prostate cancer, finding his relative

Mary, a direct blood relative of Annie, and the original slides,

completing her lifetime wish to write a book

about it, filled with so many inconsistencies,

the stories she told along the way of being a Harvard

medical student, a lawyer, and all sorts of things

that made good copy, but were far from what today

is considered the truth or good journalism standards,

fact checking nearly impossible, one telegraph

only confirming she had left Boston, by the

time she was in the Texas states, one future state still part

of Mexico, trains and the tracks sometimes the most

direct route, telling stories of being attacked,

by a black man, in New York state, bandits in

California, staged photos making the adventure

much more real for people who probably wouldn't

even consider it, though she was welcomed in

so many towns, her advance press she created

to make it possible, speaking engagements lined

up, and no bad publicity, finding people disputing

her claims equally as good to draw a crowd as

praise...

 

Paris, and customs an issue, like for many,

ThreeCupsOfTeaByGregMortensonAndDavidOliverRelin

or SpokesongsByWillieWeir

but not at a time of war, then, she, according to the

alleged bet between sugar businessmen, could not speak

another language, though reports said she spoke

many different languages, wearing a sign, and doing like

patamime for what she needed, frequently misunderstood...

 

Along the way, she had many companions

called escorts from the local riding clubs,

and frequently put up by those clubs, welcomed and

housed and fed, doing sales work at bike stores

and other places along the way,

for the streamers she advertised, and photos and

buttons and stuff she sold to make the required

$5,000 Above expenses along the journey, to

win the $10,000 purse...

 

She frequented many town events, some bicycle

races, where she would usually not race, even men,

while reports said she left many men in the dust

along the way into town, met by some of the best

locals, showing her the way, or providing some

riding company...

 

One can wonder what riders today would think

of doing such a thing, clearly

ComputingAcrossAmericaBook

and his later ReachingEscapeVelocity

suggest media as a way of making such

trips possible...  Advanced press and donations

making the unbelievable more palatable

instead of bizarre and dangerous...

 

And with all the dangers people project

and some of them real, why would one wait

to the end to write a book, likely too far off

in the future, or the trip stopped,

to really cash in on the experience, the

hype along the way higher than the mountains

climbed...

 

 

 

Book Data

 

Hardback

$22.95 US list

CopyRight 2007

 

ISBN-13: 978-0-8065-2851-9

 

173 pages text with Epilogue, and Appendix

then to a scholarly 260 pages

with Bibliography, Notes, and Index

 

 

Conclusion

 

Summary of experience or similar

 

Discussion

 

A place for feedback on the page presented

 

Page History

 

20110821 Jerry

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