Backcountry.com acquires CompetitiveCyclist

PARK CITY, UT (BRAIN)—Backcountry.com has acquired CompetitiveCyclist.com and its family of specialty retail stores.

Backcountry.com has built three businesses focused on three industries: bike, action sports and outdoor. Each industry-aligned business consists of specialty online stores core to that industry. Brendan Quirk, founder and CEO of Competitive Cyclist, will become the general manager of Backcountry.com’s Bike Division. Key Competitive Cyclist employees will also make the move to Backcountry.com.

“Brendan’s operating experience, strategic insights, and bike industry expertise will be invaluable to Backcountry.com. We’re excited to welcome him to our executive team,” said Jill Layfield, CEO of Backcountry.com. “And the employees that are joining us will be integral as well. They’ve invested personally and professionally in the success of Competitive Cyclist, and their industry relationships and passion about all things bike are going to fuel our bike business.”

Backcountry.com’s bike strategy will evolve under Quirk’s leadership. The current plan is to continue to operate all existing stores: CompetitiveCyclist.com, RealCyclist.com and HuckNroll.com, as well Backcountry.com’s two one-deal-at-a-time closeout sites, Bonktown.com and Chainlove.com.

This development will not affect the RealCyclist.com Pro Cycling Team. The two companies together recognize the importance of supporting competitive cycling in the United States, and are 100 percent committed to title sponsorship of this program.

“Each company brings something important to this relationship. We complement each other well,” said Quirk. “Backcountry.com recognizes Competitive Cyclist’s core understanding of the bike industry and we recognize Backcountry.com’s proven e-commerce capabilities. We’re going to work together to accentuate and build upon our strengths, with the wants and needs of our customers always in mind.”

Backcountry.com and CompetitiveCyclist.com are initiating a thorough integration process. Vendors should expect business as usual and customers should expect the same service and fast fulfillment.

“This is a new phase for Backcountry.com and Competitive Cyclist,” said Quirk. “We’re confident that what will come of our new relationship will be a better online experience for cyclists.”