Al Farrell R.I.P.

[Repack Rider]

My friend Al Farrell was killed last week in a motorcycle accident.

Al was a larger than life guy, boisterous and fun loving...and really rich. He personally funded the first few NORBA championships.

In 1984 Al accompanied me on one of the greatest mountain bike adventures of the many I have had (http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/canol.htm), exploring the long abandoned Canol Road in Canada's Northwest Territories. The government of Canada picked up my expenses for the trip. Al was the only person I knew who was rich enough and daring enough to pay his own way for the same trip.

The recurring joke we had on that trip was something to the effect that Al weighed 260# and had bad knees, so i didn't have to outrun the bear, I only had to outrun Al.

[prototoast]

Sorry to hear about your friend. He sounds like a great guy. We should all be lucky enough to have such grand adventures in our lives.

[merlinmurph]

For years, I have been wondering what happened to Al. I'm sad to hear about his passing. He was one of those guys in the 90's I would read about in some mtb magazine where he was doing something really nice for somebody. Sometimes there would be a picture of him with a big smile next to his Rolls.

Here's my Al story.

Sometime around '91 or '92, I did a lot of work for the New England Mt Bike Assoc (NEMBA). We were generously given a booth at the Mt Snow NORBA races where all the big guns showed up - Overend, Furtado, Giove, etc. My buddy Mark and I are hanging out at the booth. Some guy stops, writes out a check, drops it into some basket we had, smiles and walks away. We take a look at the check and it's for $500(!) - and from Al Farrell. We run down to catch up with him and thank him profusely. NEMBA was also hosting a BBQ that afternoon, Penny Davidson was coming, and we invited Al. Al shows up at the BBQ and I became a fan for life. You could not ask for a nicer person.

[redir]

That sucks bro, sorry to hear. That looks like such a stellar trip. You have many fond memories of your friend.

[soulspinner]

sorry man.

[HenryA]

Charlie, sorry for your loss. Sounds he was a great friend.

And thank you for keeping up your site

[jimcav]

I'm very sorry for your loss, and while it probably isn't a comfort now, it is wonderful you had such a friend, with such adventures in your life, and will have the memories going forward.

[Repack Rider]

For years, I have been wondering what happened to Al. I'm sad to hear about his passing. He was one of those guys in the 90's I would read about in some mtb magazine where he was doing something really nice for somebody. Sometimes there would be a picture of him with a big smile next to his Rolls.

Here's my Al story.

Sometime around '91 or '92, I did a lot of work for the New England Mt Bike Assoc (NEMBA). We were generously given a booth at the Mt Snow NORBA races where all the big guns showed up - Overend, Furtado, Giove, etc. My buddy Mark and I are hanging out at the booth. Some guy stops, writes out a check, drops it into some basket we had, smiles and walks away. We take a look at the check and it's for $500(!) - and from Al Farrell. We run down to catch up with him and thank him profusely. NEMBA was also hosting a BBQ that afternoon, Penny Davidson was coming, and we invited Al. Al shows up at the BBQ and I became a fan for life. You could not ask for a nicer person.

If it was '92, I was the announcer at the race.

[William]

Sorry to hear this. He sounds like he was a genuinely good person. RIP.






W.