Chris Hoy is hoping that his popularity does not detain him too long this weekend because he has serious work to do to win yet more Olympic gold medals. Hoy became the most recognisable British face of the Beijing Games, the Scottish superman who not only won three golds on his bike but came to symbolise the virtues of honesty, determination and sheer talent shown by the most successful Great Britain Olympic team in a century.

Hoy and the rest of Britain's cyclists brought home a haul of 14 medals from China, including seven golds. Cycling has become sport's high fashion, with figures yesterday showing that membership of British Cycling has jumped from 15,000 to 25,000 members in three years, while 13,000 cyclists now hold racing licences compared with 8,500 in 2005.

The sport's burgeoning popularity is down to the exploits of the most successful cycling squad in the world, led by the world's fastest man on two wheels on the track, which is why Hoy is among ten athletes shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Sunday night.

But it is typical of one of the most grounded, sensible and charismatic sportsmen of his generation that he will go along for the enjoyment of watching a plethora of other British athletes in action, completely unconcerned whether he is chosen by the public.

He is already booked for a session at the Manchester Velodrome first thing on Monday morning to pedal the first few miles towards the next important goal: more gold at the London 2012 Games, and even the glamour of the Sports Personality awards in front of 10,000 people at the Echo Arena in Liverpool cannot deflect him.

“It sounds a cliché, but I am just looking forward to being there,” he said. “To sit there and watch the montages and the video clips will be fantastic. It is all the stuff that we didn't get to see.

“It would be great for one of the Olympic athletes to win, because we only get our chance every four years but, then again, I wouldn't begrudge any other athlete.

“Any one of the ten deserves to win it in an amazing year. If anything comes my way, fantastic; if it doesn't, it doesn't matter.”

If worrying about training on Monday sounds virtuous to the point of dull, then youngsters aspiring to become a winner on the Hoy scale of achievement should know that this is a man completely dedicated to his sport.

His UK Sport grant is a mere £24,000; compare that with the £20million salary being paid to Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's world champion, by McLaren Mercedes.

True, he is now heading a series of high-profile adverts for a breakfast cereal company but his earnings are nowhere near the multimillions that shower footballers, racing drivers and tennis stars.

“The sport is my hobby, my passion and my obsession,” he said yesterday as he watched a dozen “wannabe” Hoys labouring in the Manchester Veldrome. “It is nice to earn a little more but that isn't the reason we do it.”

After Beijing, he managed only a single day off between landing at Heathrow and going back to the airport last month to fly out for a holiday in Thailand. Apart from Sarra Kemp, his girlfriend, the thing he loves most in his life - his bike - went with him.

Every morning for a couple of hours, he weaved his way between the traffic, pumping his enormous thighs to get back to a standard that would allow him to start training when he touched down in Britain again.

Hoy has to be a driven man. Racing for gold at the London Games in 2012 has become the new obsession and the Scot knows there is no time to slacken with Britain's cycling squad boasting some of the best young talent in the world.

At the World Cup event in Manchester last month, the home nation swept up 14 victories out of 17 events while Hoy watched from the VIP seats.

The good news for Team GB - and the bad news for the rest of the world - is that Hoy believes he has not yet reached his peak and, even at the age of 36 in 2012, will be prepared to win yet more gold in London.

Sunday night will be an enjoyable distraction, but not for long because Chris Hoy has serious work to do.