By Angela Holmes
Managing one of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa is stressful. So is running the business college of a major university.
For Corridor professionals like North Liberty City Manager Ryan Heiar and Sarah Fisher Gardial, dean of the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, hitting the road on their bikes is the perfect way to unwind.
“For me, motorcycling is therapy with a throttle,” Ms. Gardial said. “It’s the one thing that I do where I’m 100 percent in the moment. You are completely focused where you are, right there, at a point in time.”
When on a motorcycle, it doesn’t matter if the rider is a blue-collar worker or a C-suite executive, said Jeremy Richardson, general manager of McGrath Hawkeye Harley-Davidson, which is holding a grand opening Aug. 22 at its new Coralville location.
“What we see is just about anybody from any walk of life right now is definitely interested in the product, but more than anything, it is a lifestyle – the camaraderie that comes with owning a Harley and owning a motorcycle, the sense of belonging,” he said.
Harley-Davidson bikes can range from about $7,000-$40,000 for a brand new model, Mr. Richardson said, adding that “it’s no different than [buying] a boat or a camper.”
The more expensive models have larger motors, upgraded stereo systems, navigation devices, unique paint schemes and “a lot of … custom accessories that make the bike a little more unique,” Mr. Richardson said. “Those types of things help change and dictate the price.”
But, no matter the make or model, a motorcycle provides natural stress relief.
“It pulls your mind away, and there’s a unique freedom of being able to hop on it and not having a windshield and doors and handles and radios and GPS,” Mr. Richardson said. “Even though those things are available, it’s a lot more of the fact that you just throw your leg over one, you start it up and you just go.”
Name: Sarah Fisher Gardial
Occupation: Dean, University of Iowa Tippie College of Business
Motorcycle: Honda 750 Shadow
Favorite destinations: Foothills of Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Parkway in Tennesse; Great River Road along the Mississippi River; and rock concerts such as Crosby, Stills and Nash in Des Moines, the Police at Winston Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, and Fleetwood Mac in Charlotte, North Carolina.
When Sarah Fisher Gardial arrived at the University of Iowa in 2012 to become the first female dean of the Tippie College of Business, she made a splash with the picture that accompanied her introduction announcement.
The UI press office contacted her at the University of Tennessee, where she was vice provost, and asked for a photo that would best show her personality.
“I called the photographer on campus in Knoxville and said I needed some pictures of me outside. One was of me standing next to a garden – it was a nice, lovely outdoor shot. The other one was standing next to my motorcycle.”
The UI opted for the picture with the motorcycle, giving people an instant conversation point when meeting her.
“When I was meeting people that first year, they would say, ‘you’re the motorcycle rider,’” Ms. Gardial recalled. “If it had just been some kind of basic shot, it wouldn’t even have registered with people. It ended up becoming memorable because it was unexpected, both because I was a business school dean and I was a woman. I think it kind of surprised everybody.”
Ms. Gardial first started riding a motorcycle about 10 years ago in Tennessee, which she describes as “a big motorcycle-riding destination.”
“If you live in Knoxville at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway, people come from all over the country to ride there. It’s kind of a big riding culture. Just being there when I was at the University of Tennessee, it was really easy to get into that culture because there were just such beautiful, great places to ride.”
One of the most popular spots to ride in the South is the Tail of the Dragon, about 45 minutes outside of Knoxville, she said.
“It’s the most windy, curvy mountain road you could ever expect to be on,” she said. “It’s 318 curves in 11 miles. In Iowa, that is mind-boggling, where we’re used to having two curves in a mile.”
Now based in the Midwest, she and her husband, Jeffrey Gleeson, have a “whole different part of the country to explore,” including the Great River Road along the Mississippi River and Door County, Wisconsin. And it doesn’t hurt that Sturgis, South Dakota, home of the famed motorcycle rally, is relatively close, too.
Ms. Gardial rides a Honda 750 Shadow, a used motorcycle she “inherited.”
“I tell people I’m not cool enough to have a Harley,” she said. “When people find out you ride a motorcycle, the first thing they say is, ‘what do you ride?’ They really want to know, ‘do you have a Harley?’”
But she says the Honda is just the right size to ride on longer trips.
“You can’t be on a little motorcycle if you’re going to go out on the road for a weekend or week,” she said. “You have to have something heavy under you that doesn’t take all of those bumps – you don’t want to feel everything.”
Her and her husband’s favorite destinations on their motorcycles are rock concerts. Some of those trips have included Crosby, Stills and Nash in Des Moines, the Police in Louisville, Kentucky, and Fleetwood Mac in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“This is our aging, boomer fantasy,” she said. “That’s kind of the ultimate for us if we can combine the motorcycle ride with a rock concert.”
While she maintains a professional appearance on the job – she is a college dean, after all – she said she loves “getting all dressed out in the black leather chaps and the vest and fringe and all that.”
The leathers not only look cool, but also serve a greater purpose.
“They’re kind of badass in the way they look,” she said. “But the truth is, if you go down, and you just have blue jeans on or something like that, the road will just tear them up. It’s [leather] protective against the weather and it’s protective if you go down. They’re both fashionable and functional.”
She does have some dresses with black leather, along with a black leather blazer that she wears while working.
“That’s my homage to my motorcycle side,” she said. “I do try to include some black leather in my professional dress.”
Name: Ryan Heiar
Occupation: City administrator, city of North Liberty
Motorcycle: 2015 Harley Davidson Road Glide
Favorite destinations: Grand Canyon, Florida, Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin
As the administrator of North Liberty, Ryan Heiar juggles everything from the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant to the construction of a new high school, all in an effort to accommodate the city’s more than 100 percent growth since he took the job in 2007. But when he is on his Harley, he puts all of that behind him.
“I love the fact that I am not worried about it,” he said. “Being out in the open is a great stress reliever.”
Mr. Heiar started riding about 10 years ago when he was city manager in Eagle Grove in Wright County in north-central Iowa. Intrigued by his friends’ motorcycles, he had a friend teach him how to ride; a decade later, he is now an experienced rider who has zig-zagged the country on his Harley Davidson Road Glide.
“Every time you are on it, you feel more comfortable,” he said.
He doesn’t wear a helmet unless he is driving in a state that requires helmets, like Nebraska. Iowa does not require motorcyclists to wear helmets. If he crashed while riding at full speed, a helmet probably wouldn’t do much good, he reasoned.
“I like the open air,” he said. “As much highway driving I do, I’m not sure of its benefit.”
As a member of the Iron Butt Association, a loosely knit organization of 50,000-plus riders committed to long-distance motorcycling riding, he has made several 1,000-mile trips in 24 hours, including a 1,056-mile ride to Panama City Beach, Florida, in one day.
Other trips this year with his wife, Stephanie, as a passenger have included jaunts Arkansas and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They are also planning an upcoming 3,500-mile trip to the Grand Canyon.
Mr. Heiar said he appreciates anonymity a motorcycle provides. The camaraderie among bikers also makes trips to new places more enjoyable.
“Anybody can ride, that’s the beauty of it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your occupation is.”
He doesn’t usually ride his Harley to work because he is often in a suit and tie, but North Liberty residents are certainly used to seeing him riding his bike around town.
Although there are some stereotypes about bikers, Mr. Heiar doesn’t take too much stock in them.
“From the research I have read, 99 percent of Harley riders are nice, friendly folks,” he said. “Just 1 percent give the group a bad reputation.”
A sleeveless shirt reveals a tattoo on his upper right arm – of his children’s names, Tanner and Ellie.
“I have a tattoo of my kids’ names, for Pete’s sake,” he said of anybody who would take issue with his ink. “I’m a family man first.”
