Several experiences that shaped Marin Holt’s journey toward being named Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition’s 2023 Bike Champion of the Year for San Mateo County:

From Peace Corps service in the Philippines, Marin learned the importance of “capacity building” – of connecting people who might need to know one another to solve community challenges.

From a months-long bike tour across Central America and Mexico with a friend, she felt the freedom of movement and saw how much of the world relies on bikes.

From a student who entered her Woodside High classroom one day, an idea grew. “There was a kid who came into my classroom and said ‘Are you the lady with the bike on your roof?’ I said yeah. And he said ‘we’re starting a cycling club.’”

“Marin is quiet and humble – but quite a force for doing good in the community” — Michelle Briggs

Marin, raised in Redwood City and a longtime resident of Half Moon Bay, is founder of Coastside on Bikes. The non-profit organization since 2020 has focused on bicycle access for those in coastal San Mateo County who most rely on bikes for transportation, including farmworkers, the unhoused, and overlooked people living on the margins.

Through partnerships with local social services agencies including Abundant Grace Coastside Worker, Coastside Hope, Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS), and local schools, Coastside provides bike repair and donated bicycles to clients of these agencies who are in need of transportation. It’s so far given out about 200 bikes. With a recent merger with Coastside Mountain Bikers, it is now expanding to advocacy for cycling safety and access, on pavement and trails.

“I saw that there was this need of people in our community for bikes. And then I saw that there are a lot of people in our community who have bikes sitting in their garages and are needing to get rid of them,” Marin says, recalling the organization’s start.

At the same time, she was aware of the social services agencies working to help farmworkers, the unhoused and others. “And I saw that there is a link to be made. I saw them and thought wow, those are the populations that are using bikes and need bikes in our community.”

See also — April Beyersdorf, Santa Clara County 2023 Bike Champion of the Year

Marin sets an active pace, as community catalyst, riding enthusiast, mother of 9- and 11-year-old avid cyclists, and teacher of government and economics in a program for high-school students at Cañada College.

“Marin is quiet and humble – but quite a force for doing good in the community,” said Michelle Briggs, one of the people to nominate her for Bike Champion of the Year. Adds another, Amy Henry, “Marin’s passion for biking and her community turned her small idea of fixing up bikes for a few folks in need to a non-profit benefiting the entire coastside community.”