Paralympics 2008

If they come close to matching the exploits of their team-mates a couple of weeks ago they'll be able to put down a proportion of their success to Jaffa Cakes, Yorkshire tea, white vinegar and the Crafty Cockney.

The Paralympic cycling team are applying the finishing touches to what they hope will be a glorious final chapter for the sport here in Beijing, with a little help from those who set the wheels rolling during the Olympics.

The two squads pedalled side-by-side at the Manchester Velodrome in the build-up to the Games and have been busy swapping intelligence since arriving in China.

Some of it has been predictable, some of it less so.

The Paralympians were told the Laoshan Velodrome was heated to 27 degrees centigrade, so that's what they set the thermometer to back in Manchester.

They were told the track's straights were 15 metres longer than the ones at home and the bends a touch tighter, so they spent some time at a similar sized arena in Belgium.

And they were told the athletes' village was paradise, apart from a couple of missing essentials. A large box of Jaffas and the tea bags were immediately packed into the aircraft hold with the rest of the kit.

The fault was rectified and the cyclists will start their campaign for more pedal medals on a heady diet of enormous ability, immense dedication, hi-tec equipment, biscuits and a decent brew.

Just like their able-bodied counterparts, the Paralympic team are reckoned to be the best in the world and have confidently targeted as many as eight golds on the track and then on the road.

One of their big hopes was gliding his way around the pale wooden boards on a final training session before the start of competition.

Darren Kenny won two golds in Athens and he's eyeing as many as five more in Beijing.

He'll squeeze into the same imagination-defying bodysuit, wear the same aerodynamic helmet and ride the same space-age bike that propelled Chris
Hoy to Olympic glory.

The tyres will be inflated to an eye-watering 180 psi - about five times harder than the rubber on your average family car.

And that rubber will be wiped down with white vinegar after each race to clean off any tiny fragments of dust and debris that might have been picked up on the track and could affect the traction the next time he pulls away from the start line.

Sarah Storey was also negotiating the gravity-defying banks. You might know her better in her pre-wedding guise as Sarah Bailey, Britain's most successful ever Paralympic swimmer.

But here she is - a bit like Rebecca Romero - putting a reputation earnt in the pool back on the line in the saddle. She's another favourite to win medals. She might not win as many golds as she deserves though because of something called factoring - the way the boffins work out who deserves medals when races include athletes from different disability categories.

It doesn't seem fair.

Anyone who listens to our commentary on BBC TV over the next week will soon learn it's devilishly complicated. And anyone who remembers the rumpus over dodgy judging in the Taekwondo Hall might be taken back to uncomfortable places.

Storey's not the only gold-medal winning swimmer who's swapped lengths for laps.

Jody Cundy is another big British hope. He's hoping his carbon fibre false leg - built by the same people who manufactured Oscar Pistorius' blades and weighing about as much as a pair of smart sunglasses - can push him to more glory in a different discipline.

And what of the Crafty Cockney Eric Bristow and his link with the velodrome over the next few days?

It might be a while since the Archbishop of the Arrows was doing his stuff on the oche, but now it's cousin Mark's turn. The 46-year-old, who hails from Newport Pagnell but actually lives in California these days, will be aiming to hit double-top on his Paralympic debut.

I'm tempted to say "onehundredandeighteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee", but I won't.