Paralympics blog: Final preparations for London 2012

So here we are - just 14 days after the closing ceremony of the Olympic games and the GB Para-Cycling Team has landed in the Paralympic Village in London.

We have been holding down in South Wales where we have had a great camp on the track at the Newport Velodrome, replicating the final preparation of our Olympic cycling colleagues.

We made the three hour journey by coach on Sunday and hit the village around 1.30pm. After collecting our accreditations we were shown to our accommodation - a nine storey block of flats and the cycling team is on the top! Thankfully, there are two lifts.

I am sharing a flat with the six male staff - two mechanics, our psychiatrist and senior manager Steve Peters, Tom the endurance coach and I’m with my usual roomie, Gareth Sheppard, who is the programme manager.

One of the first big difference of this Games to Beijing is that the Velodrome is walking distance from the accommodation. In Beijing, the track was a 40-50 minute journey in a bus.

This makes things much simpler for us and this afternoon we wandered over to the Velodrome to check the route out and ensure all the riders knew where they are going. The riders will now be cycling the route both before and after their competitions.

We were welcomed into the village by Paralympics GB chef de mission Craig Hunter and then made our way to the enormous food hall for dinner. The food hall is very similar to Beijing, but with all the British 'Games Makers' it somehow feels friendlier. It's not that Beijing wasn’t friendly, it’s just different here.

As I write this first blog, I’m sat on my bed with an amazing view of the stadium to my left where I can see on the big screen that they are rehearsing the Opening Ceremony. Beyond that is the iconic London skyline of the Shard and Gherkin all lit up in Reds and oranges.

Hopefully we can follow in the impressive footsteps of our able bodied counterparts when competition begins tomorrow.