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.
Interested in more? Read our second blog for International womensday about a remarkable woman: Marianne Vos
About Swapfiets
Over Swapfiets
Swapfiets is 's werelds eerste ‘bike as a service’ bedrijf met een circulair businessmodel. Opgericht in 2014 in Nederland, groeide de scale-up snel uit tot een van de meest toonaangevende leveranciers van micromobiliteit in Europa, met inmiddels meer dan 270.000 leden in Nederland, Duitsland, België, Denemarken, Frankrijk, Spanje en het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Swapfiets streeft naar meer leefbare Europese steden, een 100% circulaire productlijn en wil in 2025 klimaatneutraal zijn. In oktober 2022 trad Swapfiets officieel toe tot de B Corp gemeenschap om hun missie te verstevigen.
Het concept van Swapfiets is vrij eenvoudig: voor een vast bedrag per maand hebben Swapfiets-leden altijd een werkende fiets. En zijn er onverhoopt problemen, dan wordt de fiets binnen 10 minuten in de winkel gerepareerd of direct vervangen zonder extra kosten.
Swapfiets startte in 2018 in België en heeft vandaag de dag bijna 15.000 members in ons land, verspreid over Antwerpen, Gent, Mechelen, Leuven en Brussel.
Meer informatie en mediamateriaal vindt u op swapfietsbe.prezly.com. Extra info en visuals over Swapfiets in andere Europese landen, vindt u op u op news.swapfiets.com
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