Dave Heald - UCI Masters World Track Champion

Meet Dave Heald, coach, rider, derny pilot, UCI World Track Champion and Handsling owner. 

Dave is most well known for his exploits on the wooden boards of the velodrome. As both a rider and coach he’s achieved some impressive results, the most recent being gold in the individual TT and silver in the sprint at the 2024 UCI Masters World Championships in Roubaix.

When he isn’t winning world champion’s jerseys Dave has his own coaching business, InsideLine Coaching, where he imparts his knowledge and experience. With a busy business and other duties - like piloting the dernys at the UCI Track Champions League - Dave stopped racing in 2017.

However, once a racer, always a racer. With some gentle prodding from his own coached riders, Dave hit the boards again in 2023 at his local track league. When it comes to balancing work and his own training, Dave says that he tries “to be relaxed about training and racing, accepting there is only so much that can be done whilst working a full time job. My coaching business has no set hours, as I’m available anytime when riders need me. So making the best use of what time is available is important.”

That attitude to be relaxed must have come in handy when, two weeks before the Worlds he tested positive for Covid! This meant he travelled out to France with little or no expectations of results. In Dave’s own words “It came good in the end, but I wouldn’t recommend that approach for any future competitions!”

Competing in the sprint and TT requires two different set-ups for your bike. Fortunately the TR2evoS can be easily switched to handle the two disciplines. Dave says that “the TR2EvoS has a great amount of reach, allowing me to achieve good positions, whilst staying within the UCI limits for normal drop bars and aero bars.”

Due to its design the switchover is straightforward, in fact Dave says it’s “nice and easy to change, with a standard steerer tube setup. I use slightly different sized spacers underneath, but the custom shaped TR2EvoS headset spacers come in different heights so no issues there.”

After the World’s Dave decided it was time to spruce up his Handsling TR2evoS. Working with Handsling’s paint team a design was worked up that incorporated the Insideline Coaching colours. The simple, bold design proved to be a challenge, but Handsling’s in-house paint-team pulled it off.

Dave likes that while it looks like a ‘standard’ paint-job, “the little flashes of colour are just enough to make it stand out!” This is just another example of Handsling’s customisation that can make your bike truly yours.

Dave is intending to compete at the Worlds again this year, hopefully he will be as successful, but without the Covid episode! We asked him what keeps him riding and does he have a preference when it comes to coaching others or riding for himself. “I simply love the sport, whether I'm on my own bike, or watching others suffer when I’m trackside or on the moto! I still love competing - that never went away, and was part of the reason for my return to the track. But I do get a great sense of achievement and satisfaction from seeing my athletes hit their targets.”

If you'd like to emulate Dave's achievements on the boards, the you'll want a bike that can handle the intense action of the sprint or the focused effort of a pursuit. The TR2evoS is just such a bike.

Designed in-house using Toray's T700 carbon-fibre, the TR2evoS has been engineered for elite level aerodynamic performance and has been approved for use in UCI competition. Choose the TR2evoS or TR2evoS and you can make the bike truly yours by specifying your own colour and components. Once you've made your choice, your bike will be assembled at Handsling's UK workshop according to rider size and spec.