A closer look
In 1894, a mother of three named Annie Londonderry accepted a massive wager to become the first woman to bicycle around the world. The catch? She had barely ridden a bike before in her life. She turned herself into a rolling billboard, selling advertising space on her clothes to finance the trip. Half of her "cycling" involved secretly taking trains and steamships with her heavy bike in tow, effectively inventing the modern, heavily sponsored, and slightly fraudulent travel influencer.
