Val Vanderpool

Val is BRAIN’s newest staff writer. She comes to the magazine with a varied background including stints as a bike shop manager, bicycle tour guide, and race and event director. She also worked as a freelance writer in the outdoor and travel industries. Most recently, she taught women’s clinics and drove a demo van, working with Giant retailers all over the west. An Idaho native who has lived all over the northwest, Val is excited about her recent relocation to sunny southern California, where she can mountain bike, trail run, and garden year round. She lives in Silverado canyon with her boyfriend Brian and their two dogs. 

All articles by Val Vanderpool

March 6, 2015
Cycling-inspired bar The Wheel opened in Austin last month.

AUSTIN, Texas (BRAIN) — Longtime bike retailer Jack Murray, owner of Jack & Adam’s Bicycles, recently opened his second bar in Austin.

Posted in Retail News
March 6, 2015

BALTIMORE (BRAIN) — World champion mountain biker Marla Streb has announced that she will open HandleBar Cafe and Bike Shop with her husband, Mark Fitzgerald, in Baltimore this summer.

Posted in Retail News
February 21, 2015

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (BRAIN) —  Old man winter played Minnesota nice and released his icy grip on the Midwest just in time for QBP's annual Frostbike event, which kicked off Friday at its Twin City headquarters.

Posted in Industry News
January 27, 2015
Interbike managing director Pat Hus was a panelist discussing trends and horizons in triathlon Monday morning. Photo Gary Newkirk.

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (BRAIN) — The challenge of casting a wider net to continue to grow the sport of triathlon emerged as a key theme at Triathlon Business International's third annual North American Annual Conference held in Los Angeles this week.

Posted in Industry News
January 21, 2015

NEWTON, Mass. (BRAIN) – Landry's Bicycles has purchased the assets of longtime Boston-area retailer International Bicycle Centers following the closure of IBC's two stores in early January.

Posted in Retail News
December 11, 2014

SEATTLE (BRAIN) — Former retailer and longtime framebuilder Bill Davidson has announced his partnership with Maxwell Kullaway of 333fab to open Davidson-Kullaway Custom Bicycles early next spring.

Posted in Retail News
December 1, 2014

LAWRENCE, Kan. (BRAIN) — Discounts ran deeper and sales started earlier than ever this year, but the holiday shopping season appears to be off to a slow start.

Posted in Retail News
November 24, 2014

LOS ANGELES (BRAIN) — Detroit-based watch, leather goods and bicycle company Shinola opened its newest retail store in Los Angeles last week. The 1,100-square-foot shop is in the heart of the city's Silver Lake neighborhood, and is Shinola's seventh brick-and-mortar retail outlet.

Posted in Retail News
October 30, 2014
David’s World Cycle is now up to 12 stores … and counting.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BRAIN)—A recent purchase of four bike shops in a one-month period has brought the store count at David’s World Cycle to 12. The greater Orlando-area retailer also has its sights on a fifth acquisition, with a deal set to close in November.

Posted in Retail News
October 30, 2014
Gearin’ Up Bicycles operated out of a shipping container its first summer in business.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — When Katie Lupo went shopping for a bike after relocating to D.C. from Madison, Wisconsin, for an internship, she was shocked to discover there were no used bike shops in the city. After finishing graduate school, Lupo decided to move to D.C. permanently and open her own. Lupo started Gearin’ Up Bicycles in late 2012 as a nonprofit community used bike shop, modeling it after a similar program in Madison called Dream Bikes.

Posted in Retail News

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