Palmer, who leaves Dunedin for the Olympics on Monday, has a double role at Beijing.
He is a sports scientist with the New Zealand cycling team and also personal coach of Roulston and Shanks.
Palmer's scientific analysis has helped lift standards and made New Zealand a major force in world cycling.
His influence will be ongoing and should help New Zealand cyclists reach the podium again at London in 2012.
Palmer (32) became the sports scientist to BikeNZ's elite cyclists last November. "My job is to monitor what the cyclist does in racing and training and analyse his progress," he said.
"Sports science adds icing to the cake.
It provides extra information to the coaches, reduces the risks of mistakes, and helps the cyclist perform more consistently."
Palmer uses video analysis to let cyclists know where they can make improvements and gives guidelines for warm-ups.
Palmer, a lecturer at the University of Otago School of Physical Education, has been preparing work for his students during his three-month absence and has not had time to be nervous about the Olympics.
"The phys ed school has been brilliant in letting me be away for so long," he said.
Both his cyclists are overseas, but he has been in regular touch with them through email.
"Everything is going to plan and the cyclists are ticking away nicely," Palmer said.
"They are putting in the hard yards at the moment."
Palmer has high hopes for Roulston, who finished fourth in the 4km individual pursuit at the world championships at Manchester in March.
"Hayden is a freak of nature with his ability on a bike," he said.
"He is among the best riders in the world."
Roulston will have a busy time at Beijing and will compete in the individual pursuit, teams pursuit and the Madison with Otago's Greg Henderson.
"Hayden can go faster at Beijing than he did at the world championships," Palmer said.
"His goal will be to come back with some Olympic hardware."
Palmer does not think any other cyclist will catch Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain), who won the individual pursuit title at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the world championship title in 2003, 2007 and 2008.
Wiggins also won the Madison last year and the teams pursuit over the last two years.
Shanks has been competing with the Jazz Apple road team this month and Palmer will join her in California next week.
Palmer will monitor her track training at San Jose.
They will join Roulston at the New Zealand training base in Limoux, France, where they will do fitness training on the hills before joining the New Zealand team at the Olympic training base in Bordeaux on July 13.
Palmer has been pleased with the rapid progress of Franks over the last two years.
"Ali improves her times each time she goes on the track. I'm confident she will make significant gains before the Olympics in August."
Palmer, in his role as a sports scientist, has analysed Shanks' race at the world championships and worked out how she can improve her times before Beijing.
"We have done a lot of work on pacing strategy," Palmer said.
"She has also changed her line when racing on the track and knows how to take the shortest route."
There has also been an adjustment to her equipment to make the bike go faster.
At the world championships at Manchester, Rebecca Romero (Britain), who won a silver medal in the quadruple sculls in rowing at Athens in 2004, showed that her switch to cycling is paying dividends when she won the 3km individual pursuit 3min 50.51sec from Sarah Hammer (United States) and Katie Mactier (Australia) won the silver and bronze medals at the world championships this year.
The New Zealand team has done a lot of work with Richard Young to minimise the pollution effects at Beijing.
"We would not be exposed to much because we ride in an air-conditioned velodrome," Palmer said.
Palmer competed in both athletics and cycling when he was growing up in Hastings and was coached by former Otago athletes Allan and Sylvia Potts, who had an important influence on his coaching philosophy.
