3 August 2012 Last updated at 02:30 ET By Ed Davey BBC News, London

Two civil servants. On a beach. In Camden.

Could it get more surreal?

Yes, clearly. Because in the world of Olympic London these are but the undulating foothills of the bizarre.

And beyond them lie the far-off, snow-capped, mad-as-a-box-of-frogs peaks of the downright peculiar.

For what had this pair of valued governmental workers descended on north London's Roundhouse to witness?

A collection of lycra-clad superheroes with heads shaped like blobs of ice cream in a wind-tunnel zooming around a track made of imported Siberian Pine.

"I'd like to think we'll win," said Steve Aherne, 30, one of the civil servants. "But you never know..."

The lads were not to know the day would end in triumph for Chris Hoy and the rest of the men's sprint team.

But even before Team GB added its second cycling gold, Chris Bell, 32, was in awe.

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Civil servants, beaches and lycra