Why do you ride?
My husband (Olympic Medalist Lloyd Eisner) has been riding for 40 years. So I got this bug to get a Spyder, a three-wheeler. I felt safe and comfortable on it as a new mom and I fell in love with the whole feeling of being on the road. I rode it for a year and a half and I was on the phone with Woody one day and we were talking about motorcycles. I said I was thinking of getting off the spider and asked him if he thought Victory made a three-wheeler. And he said, “Kristy, just get on two wheels, go take the course and see how you feel, what do you have to lose?” My husband was saying the same thing, so I did! It was really Woody and my husband who inspired me to get on two wheels.
I borrowed a Victory in Sturgis two years ago and fell in love with the feel and look of it. I’m comfortable on it.
That’s so important, right?
It really is. A motorcycle is kind of like a bra, it has to fit you right. If you’re not wearing the right size it doesn’t look good, it’s uncomfortable and you can be pretty sure something bad will happen. (laughs)
Has anything surprised you about riding?
I never expected to be part of the motorcycle world. As an actor I’m sort of protected, I live a life of being careful. This is on the edge, it’s aggressive and it’s been exciting for me. I’ve met some really great people. I can’t wait to get to be there in Sturgis again.
Tell us about the Playboy feature in 2002?
It was a good experience. I art directed and produced it myself. I chose where I wanted to shoot and who was going to do it. I didn’t allow them to pay me until I saw the final images and we turned them over to Playboy. It was funny, Hugh Heffner told me there were Swansons in his family!
So are you two related?
Here’s what happened: in the mid ’90s I was up at the Playboy mansion shooting The Phantom. It was the first time the mansion was ever used in a film and it fit because the film was set in the 1930s. I was in costume, driving a vintage vehicle up the driveway and there he was. He looked at me and said, “Swanson, Swanson, you know my mother’s maiden name was Swanson. Where are you from? I told him the Midwest, Chicago. He said he was, too! I don’t know maybe we are related.
We’re crazy about David Uhl’s new painting featuring you called, “The Huntress.”
Oh, he’s so incredibly talented! I’m honored to be in one of his paintings. It’s like I can check that off my bucket list now! It took us about nine months to figure out when and how to work it out but we finally did.
With the painting’s gothic theme, it takes you back to your vampire days.
It does! Hmmm. Maybe I need to talk to Victory about a new model design for me: The Victory Vamp – as in Vampire!
