You may recognize this delightful face from The Spoke Shop. This is our friend and Billings TrailNet member, Rob Johnson, and while he retired from The Spoke Shop two years ago, you can still see him biking all around Billings when he’s not in his former home state of Minnesota.

Rob donates $100 to Billings TrailNet every month, and his generosity helps Billings TrailNet fulfill his vision, which is “all trails getting connected so you can do an endless Marathon Loop seamlessly, and go up to 40 miles on a trail without getting on a road.”

Rob says that trails are important to him becuase they promote healthy living and they give people an opportunity to get out of the house. “Multipurpose trails have a greater purpose: they transcends ourselves,” he explains.

“We live in Big Sky Country. The only way to experience it is to be in it. You have to get out of your house to do that,” he adds.

Rob and his late wife Robin created lasting memories together on the trails. Robin passed in March of 2021, from pancreatic cancer.

“We shared the trails quite a bit, especially on her final summer. Everlasting memories spent together with her on her e-bike and me on my gravel bike riding the trails. It was the most biking we’ve ever done together in 30-some years of marriage,” he says.

Rob would also like to leave a legacy to Billings: “to know I’ve contributed to a trail system people will use way beyond my time. People I may never know will use it, but will get as much joy out of it as I have,” Rob says.

Rob also started the Billings chapter of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) with a group of other cyclists. This program helps build mountain biking skills to youth in grades 6-12, and he hopes that will continue far into the future. For more information on NICA Billings, please contact dirtdogzcoach@gmail.com.

Thank you Rob, for being such a caring member of our community!