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.
Val Vanderpool
All articles by Val Vanderpool
BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — As of Jan. 1, Full Cycle Bikes, one of Boulder's oldest bike shops, has changed hands. Russ Chandler and business partners Ed Kuh and Adam Brodnicki bought the business from Kaj and Karli Gronholm, who owned it for 10 years.
LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. (BRAIN) — Bicycle Retailer has selected Bike-n-Hike of Longmont, Colorado, for its 2016 Retail Remodel Project.
DECATUR, Ga. (BRAIN) — Fred Boykin, founder and owner of Bicycle South outside of Atlanta, has announced that he is selling his shop to manager Brian Dunne and will retire at the end of the year.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (BRAIN — We traded palm trees, cityscape and Hollywood stars for the scenic and suburban Conejo Valley on Thursday, the third and final day of the L.A. Dealer Tour.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (BRAIN) — Big Poppi Bicycle Company owners Aaron Apel and Jeff Koenig have announced plans to close the store at the end of December. After serving Manhattan and surrounding rural communities for seven years, the partners decided it was time to switch gears.
LANCASTER, Pa. (BRAIN) — QBP welcomed retailers and suppliers to its first-ever Biketoberfest event this week. Some 175 retailers and about 30 brands convened in Lancaster, located an hour and a half west of Philadelphia.
SEATTLE — Hedrick Cycles owner Carson Hedrick has opened a new retail showroom in Seattle, where the road brand is headquartered. Hedrick began making carbon road frames in 2009 as a tribute to his father and launched the brand at Interbike in 2014 with his Version4 frame.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After operating a mobile repair business for the past year and a half, Jim Steffen, known as The Bikesmith, is joining the ranks of the brick-and-mortar IBD.
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN) — It was standing room only today at the Taiwan Excellence New Products Launch, presented in conjunction with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN) — At Eurobike on Wednesday, Italian saddle maker Selle Royal debuted its newest line, Scientia, which was designed in conjunction with researchers from the University of Cologne in Germany.