20th Anniversary Sea Otter comes to a sunny, successful close for Osprey

Over the weekend Osprey made its debut at one of the largest bike consumer and racing events in North America, the Sea Otter Classic.   The reception to our hydraulics packs was outstanding.  Cyclists from all areas including mountain, road and BMX, as well as an overwhelming amount of industry and media folks came by the Osprey booth to learn about our innovative Raptor and Manta series.

Over and over, comments on the features of these packs surfaced, many impressed by the LidLock™ helmet carry, the magnetic sternum strap for easy access and location of the bite valve and the ingenuity of the HydraForm™ and HydraLock™ reservoir compartment.  These features have caught the attention of riders – they are surprised and delighted by our new take on hydration packs, an area that has been somewhat stagnant for many years.

Folks streamed by the tent constantly, on bike and on foot, and the buzz on our packs spread quickly.  For those of you who haven’t been to Sea Otter, the sights and sounds were all about biking, with announcers giving play by play action of the dual slalom, crits and much more.  Being up-close to the downhill and slalom was awesome–the skills on display from riders from all over the world were incredible.  We tried to take in what we could; this is the place to showcase product, and even being a cyclist, it was still a little overwhelming.  Afternoon reprieves came from Bike Mag and SoloSports Punta San Carlos (a baja bike mecca featured in Anthill Production’s Follow Me which premiered during the Sea Otter Classic event) crews’ coronas, a good opportunity to glean a little knowledge of what was hot (…see next month’s magazine for more!).

Our debut at Sea Otter was a success and we’d like to think that we brought a bit of Colorado sunshine with us along with our hydration packs.  It was the first time in years that it’s been sunny and nice.  See you next year!