Local · Saturdays Hosted by Joe Martel

Bike Balance
Workshop

Slow-speed riding, track-stand games, and the kind of unhurried saddle time that makes the rest of the ride feel obvious.

The workshop

A small group meets in the park. We work the boring fundamentals — pedalling circles, looking up, weight on the bars vs. the saddle — until they aren't boring anymore. 90 minutes, taught. Bring any bike. First one's free if you're new.

Open meet

Same place, same morning, no instruction. We just ride together at low speeds and play. You're on your own bike under your own insurance — I'm there as a fellow rider, not a teacher. Show up if it's your kind of thing.

Workshopsvia the dojo

90 min · taught · £18 · first one free
Sat 04 May
10:00
Track stand basicsHampstead Heath · 6 of 8 places Book
Sat 11 May
10:00
Slow-speed corneringHampstead Heath · 8 places Book
Sat 18 May
10:00
Pedalling circlesHampstead Heath · 8 places Book

Open meetsvia the dojo

~60 min · no instruction · free · BYO bike + insurance
Sun 05 May
09:30
Open rideHampstead Heath · drop in RSVP
Sun 12 May
09:30
Open rideHampstead Heath · drop in RSVP
One-to-one · by appointment Held by Joe Martel

The Listening Post

An hour where someone is paying full attention to what you have to say. No advice unless you ask. No agenda but yours.

What it is

You talk. I listen. You decide whether you want me to reflect back, push gently, or just hold the silence. We meet in person where possible, on a call where it isn't. There is no script, no framework, no "session structure" beyond your hour and my attention.

Some people come monthly. Some come once. Both are fine.

Open windowsthis fortnight

Tue 29 Apr
14:00
In person · King's Cross60 minutes Reserve
Thu 01 May
10:30
Phone or video60 minutes Reserve
Fri 09 May
16:00
In person · King's Cross60 minutes Reserve
Group sessions · evenings Held by Joe Martel

Sonic Bowls

A long, low room. Brass and crystal bowls. You lie down. The room fills with sound until thinking gives up.

What it is

A 75-minute group bowl sound bath. You're horizontal on a mat with a blanket. I play a small set of singing bowls and gongs. Most people drift somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. Many leave quieter than they came.

No experience needed. Wear something you can lie down in for an hour without thinking about your zip.

Upcoming sessionsvia the dojo

Wed 30 Apr
19:30
Full sound bathStoke Newington · 12 / 16 places Book
Sun 04 May
17:00
Sunday quietStoke Newington · 6 / 12 places Book
Wed 14 May
19:30
Full sound bathStoke Newington · 16 places Book
Remote · anywhere Worked by Joe Martel

Remote Dowsing

A specific question, asked carefully, answered with a pendulum and a map. Findings posted back to you within a week.

What it is

You send a question, an address or a coordinate, and whatever context helps. I work the question with rod and pendulum over a printed map, write up what came back, and post it to you within seven days. Most questions are about land, water, or whether to do the thing.

This works whether you're in Cornwall or California. Asynchronous on purpose.

Open slotsthis month

slot · 02 Land & water questionturnaround within 7 days · £80 Open
slot · 03 Decision questionturnaround within 7 days · £80 Open
slot · 04 Open enquiryturnaround within 7 days · £80 Open
Software · in three modes Worked by Joe Martel

Considered software,
three ways in.

Sometimes you need a careful pair of eyes on a codebase that has grown organically. Sometimes you need a small product shipped on the edge in days. Sometimes you need internal tooling that doesn't make people sigh. I work in all three modes — pick the one that fits.

three modes · pick what fits
01 · the polishing visitfor: tired codebases

Considered Software

I come in with fresh eyes and a soft scalpel. Find what's dead, what's duplicated, where boundaries blurred. Then a tier'd plan — sweep, then de-duplicate, then re-shape — without a rewrite.

Recent: 27-finding joyous-code review of a CF Pages app, tiered into a sweep + reshape plan.
Output: small commits, real tests, a codebase the team enjoys reading again.
2–4 week engagements · async or in person
02 · spec to deployfor: founders shipping fast

Edge Builder

Small, fast products on Cloudflare's edge — Pages + Functions + D1 + R2 + Zero Trust Access — from a one-page spec to a deployed URL with tests, in days not months. Spec first, then a tiered plan, then I build.

Recent: Workshop ops tool — solo build in ~3 weeks, full job lifecycle, JWT-gated, R2 photo uploads.
Stack: Astro, CF Pages Functions, D1, R2, Workers, Zero Trust, Bun, TypeScript.
Half-day discovery free · then a fixed-scope quote
03 · internal toolsfor: teams whose own tools creak

tooling()

Devcontainers, CLIs, TUIs, scaffolds — the unglamorous infrastructure that makes a team's daily work smoother. Treated with the same care as product code: typed, tested, documented, no surprise dependencies.

Open source: devcontainer-template-edge-cf-pages — new project ready to deploy in one command.
Open source: web-pilot — Bun-based headless browser CLI for visual smoke tests.
Fixed scope · ships in 1–2 weeks