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

October 8, 2013
The Haibike Super Race is a flat-bar road e-bike.

IRVINE, CA (BRAIN) — Debuting the Bosch system to U.S. consumers for the first time, four bike companies are offering e-bike demos at the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon at Irvine’s Great Park in southern California. The event opened last Thursday and closed Sunday.

Posted in Product/Tech
October 8, 2013
A pink Cadillac was the perfect vehicle for the drive-thru ceremony at Las Vegas' Little White Chapel.

WILLIAMSBURG, VA (BRAIN) — A Vegas wedding—or any wedding for that matter—wasn’t on retailer Sharon Oakley’s Interbike 2013 itinerary. But her partner in life and business, Robert Maye, co-owner of Red Barn Bicycles, had other ideas.

Posted in Retail News
September 26, 2013

TUCSON, AZ (BRAIN) — Lifelong cyclist Steve Morganstern is bringing Scottsdale’s Bicycle Ranch south to Tucson. The new store, located at the intersection of Oracle and Ina Roads in northwest Tucson, is set to open its doors on Saturday. 

Posted in Retail News
September 13, 2013

BOULDER, CO (BRAIN) — As Leisure Trends Group broadcast its 2013 Pre-Interbike Sales Trends webinar live from a soggy and flooded Boulder, Colo., the topic of weather was impossible to

Posted in Studies/Reports
September 11, 2013

GUELPH, Ontario (BRAIN) — Jason ‘Jay’ Filer, owner and lead instructor of Canada’s only bicycle mechanic certification school, has died. Even though Filer had been fighting a two-year battle with cancer of the esophagus, he passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, Sept. 3. He was 43.

Posted in Retail News
September 5, 2013
July category sales, 2013 compared to 2012. LTG

BOULDER, CO (BRAIN) — Retail merchandise sales were up 2 percent in July, coming in at $382 million according to Leisure Trends Group's RetailTrak IBD sales summary.

Posted in Studies/Reports
September 4, 2013

NEWPORT BEACH, CA (BRAIN) — Debra Healy Deem, wife of Cycle Werks owner Paul Deem, died from injuries sustained in a collision with a minivan last month. She was 58.

Posted in Retail News
September 3, 2013

IRVINE, CA (BRAIN) — Shimano’s popular Interbike tech seminars are getting an extreme makeover for 2013. Record participation in 2012 spurred the company into streamlining the format to allow technicians to cover more topics and participants to get more hands-on training.

Posted in Industry News
August 22, 2013

TALENT, OR (BRAIN) — Flywheel Bicycle Solutions in southwestern Oregon’s Rogue Valley will soon become the area’s first bike shop to serve beer and wine. Owner Ian Bagshaw plans to put in six beer taps and pour mostly local brews during regular business hours. 

Posted in Retail News
August 21, 2013

MOSCOW, ID (BRAIN) — New retailer Rolling Hills Bikes recently opened in downtown Moscow, home of the University of Idaho. Andrew Pratt and Collin Priebe moved to Moscow from Bellingham, Wash., where they both worked for several years at Kulshan Bikes.

Posted in Retail News

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