The parade of Britain's Olympic heroes is just what we need to lift the doom and gloom, says Chris Hoy, the champion cyclist who won three gold medals in Beijing.

"It's great to be able to celebrate something so positive at a time of such economic uncertainty.

"I think Londoners will grab the opportunity to escape their troubles for a few hours and enjoy a fun, memorable day."

For Hoy, 32, whose performance in Beijing was the greatest by a British Olympian for a century, it is fitting that the parade should start at Mansion House in the heart of the Square Mile.

"It will bring a different mood to the City," he says. "There is nothing like looking down on tens of thousands of smiling people lined up as far as the eye can see.

"Our success has touched so many people and I think they will want to get out and be part of it."

Dubbed "Hoycules" by his team-mates after shredding the opposition in every one of his 18 races, including the heats, Hoy has been enjoying a few months off before resuming serious training next month.

His new found celebrity status means he is in high demand, from local schools to the National Movie Awards, where he rubbed shoulders with Hollywood stars like Samuel L. Jackson.

But he is characteristically modest about his achievements. "So many of our athletes did amazing things in Beijing, you couldn't single out just one," he says.

Besides, the thing that impresses him most is longevity of success. "That's why Sir Steve Redgrave, who's won five rowing golds, is the greatest in my book, having the incredible drive and resilience to keep winning over five consecutive Games."

His favourite memory of the Games, he says, was the shocked reaction of their main rivals, the French, when Team GB broke the world record in the heats for the team sprint.

"You could see the deflation. That psychological blow set the tone for the whole week. We battered them into submission even before the final began."

Hoy, from Edinburgh, says he can add to his Olympic gold medal haul he won his first in Athens in the 1km time trial in 2004 and go past Redgrave at London 2012. "Although I'll be 36 by then, I believe I can go faster in London than I did in Beijing.

"Of course, when you are winning, you feel like you can go on winning forever. Eventually age catches up, injuries get more regular and harder to recover from and maybe your priorities change and you don't have that dedication any more."

For now, Hoy is as single-minded as ever. Once he starts training at his base in Salford, he will only see his girlfriend Sarra, a lawyer based in Edinburgh, on weekends.

"Once I start training, it's no nights out, no drink, no distractions for me. It's because if I ever stand on a podium with a silver medal around my neck, I'd be angry with myself that that one night out might have made the difference.

"I want to have no regrets. You can't win gold at this level unless you are prepared to give everything.

"To win the Olympics on home soil is the ultimate for any athlete. That's why I will be putting everything into going for gold in 2012."