Congratulations to Todd Consentino and Chris Chaney, winners of the Ortlieb Showers & Snow photo contest by the Alliance for Biking & Walking and Streetsblog.
We received over 100 photos of rainy, snowy biking and walking from dozens of photographers. Ten photos made it to the final round; of those, two were chosen by a (somewhat buggy) popular vote. Check them out below!
First prize winner: “Blizzard 2013” by Todd Consentino
This photo is from February 2013, when Boston had just been slammed with 24 inches of snow in 24 hours.
"Most of the roads by us were a mess and there weren't many non-plow type vehicles on the road," said Todd. "My five year old daughter wanted to go sledding. Our favorite sledding hill is only four miles away, so we rode our bike. It was awesome! Boston was peacefully quiet."
Todd can often be found commuting by bike from his home in Boston to his job in Belmont, a 26 mile round trip. He blogs biking -- especially with children -- at www.Consentino.com.
Todd says his current set of Ortlieb Back Roller panniers have about 15,000 road miles on them "and are starting to look a little long in the tooth," so he's excited for a brand new set. "The bags are so durable, though, that the old pair is still good," he says. Once his contest prize arrives, Todd says he'll donate his old bags to Boston Bike Party.
Second prize winner: “Got Fenders?” by Chris Chaney
Chris snapped his winning photo as a self-portrait. "I set the camera on a tripod with timer and rode past," he said. "It was on the Ralston Creek Trail in Arvada, Colorado, where I lived for five years and rode my bike as my primary mode of transportation."
Since then, Chris has moved back to Kentucky, where he works as a transportation planner and advocates for biking and walking improvements to major public projects. He says that kind of thinking is still pretty new there.
These days, he mainly rides for recreation, but he says he's excited about his prize of a new set of Ortlieb bags because he wants to do more touring and long distance commuting. "These will greatly facilitate that!"
Congratulations, Todd and Chris!
