Back in 1982, 23-year-old architecture student Elspeth Beard put life on hold to to travel 35,000 miles on a BMW by herself The history of motorcycling includes an array of pioneering female riders who broke down boundaries for future generations, from the Van Buren sisters who a century ago road across the US from New York to San Francisco—getting blasted by the media for abandoning their roles as housewives, and being arrested for dressing like men along the way, determined to demonstrate that women can too serve as military dispatch riders—to Valerie Thompson’s world speed record attempt last week. As many a comment sections will attest, being the first to do something is very important, and back in 1982 Elspeth Beard became the first woman to travel tens-of-thousands of miles across the globe by herself on two-wheels.
