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Makes me giggle a little at the bicycle tourists who spend thousands of dollars on gear. Some is needed, sure. But she set off on a single speed bicycle around the world and made it. Clearly this is not a fully apples to apples comparison, but it is definitely food for thought.
That's because gear isn't the multiplier people think it is. What sets endurance travellers apart isn't their superior gear, but their ability to handle the tedium.
Indeed, our roads are much better, probably worldwide.
Part of the pleasure of cycling for me is the audacity of getting around on a machine that would not have seemed out of place in 1890. Although, while the shape of the bike hasn't changed all that much, a huge amount of progress is hidden in the materials used. Were I forced to change one component of her bike with its modern version, it would be the tires.
I was actually surprised from the photo to see that her tires seem to be pneumatic. Looks like pneumatic tires began to be manufactured only a year or two before her trip.
Imagine a woman in the 1890s, mother of 6, traveling alone around the world in a heavy single speed bicycle, breaking the world record and arriving 14 days ahead of schedule. Absolutely amazing.
Imagine being 24 and having 6 children.
Prize would be roughly $300,000 today.
And she made the equivalent of nearly $100,000 in speaking fees along the way
> and at the end of fifteen months return to Boston,” the New York Times reported on February 25, 1894. “The traveler starts out penniless, with simply the clothes she has on,
> […]
> Speeches were made, and then a representative from New Hampshire’s Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Company handed Kopchovsky $100 in sponsorship money
It also isn’t clear to me how she paid for those boat trips, and find it conspicuous that the New York Times up front wrote it would take 15 months while the only existing attempt took 33 (on a penny farthing! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stevens_(cyclist))
I guess this was more scripted reality than a true attempt.
A shallow look suggests that the $100 would have covered traveling to Europe.
Real life Phineas Fogg. Awesome!
I made the same mistake to lose a game of Trivial Pursuit: It's Philious Fogg.
Are you sure?