How Farr Would You Go?

^{photos from Eboy Farr’s Facebook Page}

Frederick “Eboy” Farr didn’t start out as the mountain biker extraordinaire we all know and admire now, like many of us he started out on a BMX. “When you’re a kid, you HAD to have a BMX,” he laughs while telling us during the interview, “and if you didn’t have one well, you’d be left out.” That’s where his love for everything with two wheels began, as far as he can remember— not long after that he discovered motocross. “Actually, it was when I got injured because of motocross, that I discovered and fell in love with mountain biking.”

He recounts that he injured his wrist and decided that, instead of just not doing anything, he’d get on a mountain bike to keep on moving. That was in and around the year 2000, when mountain biking was just at the beginning of its boom locally. “There weren’t a lot of places to ride gravity yet,” he says, “so I started riding cross country first, problem is that it didn’t take long for my heart to look for that adrenaline rush — the jumping.” Eventually he did meet other downhill riders and the rest, as they say, is history. “I completely forgot about Motocross.”

PHILIPPINE DH

Eboy Farr has been winning for as long as he’s been racing, even to this day, you’ll find him on — if not on top of the podium at many racing events. Consistently a champion, even as most athletes see a natural decline beginning. Just very recently at the first leg of the Harvey’s National DH Series, Eboy topped his category, bagging first at the Pugad Lawin race.

Naturally, like all sportsmen, he felt the desire to share his skills and coach. “It was around 2005 that I joined the National Team,” Eboy shares with us, “they were looking for a coach and I applied.” He continues to tell us that everything he learned and experienced, even from motocross, went into his approach to coaching the Philippine Team. As the coach of the National DH Team, Eboy worksclosely with the Philippine Sports Commission to build a routine and regimen for himself and the athletes that allow them to compete AND WIN at an international level.

What’s just as hard as coaching top athletes, is coaching his own son — Jerich Farr, who himself is already a local legend and a 2019 Gold Medal Winner for Downhill Racing at the Southeast Asian games. Eboy tells us that “it’s hard because he sees me more as a father at times, than as his coach,” and of course, it’s also hard coaching someone that gifted, someone who, as Eboy himself says, has “natural talent.” Eboy tells us that it’s also tricky making sure that there are no biases when it comes to coaching his son among all the other amazing athletes on the team, saying that “sometimes I even give MORE attention to the others, just to balance things out.” While he admits that it sometimes puts a strain on their relationship, he’s obviously proud of his son and what they’ve achieved, and continue to achieve together.

RIDE FARR ACADEMY

Ride Farr Academy is the culmination of a plan years in the making. “Although before, we’ve already been coaching people, teaching them if they asked us,” Eboy says, “but now we’ve made ourselves a sort of home base, the academy.” With Adler of Teban, who is actually related to Eboy, Ride Farr was able to dig their roots into a place that they can finally call their own.

So far, Ride Farr Academy has had two batches of graduates already, with the third batch scheduled for late April this year. “It’s such an honor,” he smiles, “I feel flattered and of course happy, that a lot of people have expressed their interest to join, and actually joined.” He continues that “even the t-shirts, which we give with the certificate of completion, people want their own — it’s so flattering and humbling.”

“It’s something me and Jerich have always wanted to share with people— our passion, our love for this sport.” The goal, Eboy says, is to help people maximize the joy that they can get from their bikes, to maximize the time and money they put into it, and of course to progress safely while building confidence.

LIKE and FOLLOW them on FACEBOOK for updates and how to join.