STEVE MATTHES: I didn’t want to race the Dubya USA World Vet Motocross Championships at Glen Helen. The last time I raced a motorcycle was at this very event ten years ago, and it was rough. As in, rough for myself and a rough track that I wasn’t prepared for. There’s nothing like going down a massive hill barely able to hang on to your bike due to hand/arm/overall body pump to make you question your life choices. I raced a dirt bike for 21 of my first 24 years, got it out of my system, and there was no way I was going back to The Helen to race ever again.

KRIS KEEFER: “Steve, are you practicing for the Dubya USA World Vet Motocross Championships today?” That question is basically how I started every conversation with Matthes over the past few months. He would say, “No, leave me alone.” Every single time I asked him, except for this one time. . . .

MATTHES: So my fellow Canadian Ryan Gauld hit me up about coming down to race and borrowing my Yamaha YZ450F, to which I said, “Sure, no problem, come down and I’ll go hang out with my friends.” Still, I was getting heavy pressure from full-time vet rider extraordinaire Kris Keefer and others on the PulpMX Show to race. Truthfully, I was in a better spot to race than I was before, as I’ve been riding my Intense Tazer e-bike a lot and losing some weight, and I’ve been trying to get out and moto once a week since the Ironman National.

KEEFER: All of a sudden he actually relents and says, “Yes, I am practicing, and I’m thinking about racing with you in a few weeks, but leave me alone!” At that point, I thought he was screwing with me, but he was serious and showed up at my door the Friday before the event! I love riding and racing dirt bikes and getting my buddies to come race with me, so having Matthes there made it even better.

MATTHES: Although the word prepared to race Glen Helen might be a stretch, I was coming in better than last time, which, if I recall, was more on a sloth level of prep.

KEEFER: Racing all these years taught me a lot about myself, and one of those things is that I am a very goal-driven person. Even though I am not dedicating my life to racing dirt bikes, I still like to set certain racing goals for myself, so I usually pick two big goals each year. I don’t have a ton of time or the energy to race a lot, because I am usually testing 300 days out of the year (seriously, 300), so I really try to focus on two particular events that I think would be fun. The two goals I set out for myself for 2019 were to race two Lucas Oil Pro Motocross nationals and, of course, the Dubya USA World Vet Motocross Championships at Glen Helen on two different bikes. Those Pro Motocross races, at Hangtown and Fox Raceway at Pala, didn’t quite go as planned, so I thought, Let’s just focus on the World Vets, shall we?

MATTHES: One of the other reasons I decided to race—and I haven’t told a lot of people outside of my wife this, because despite having a platform of podcasts where I talk about myself a lot, I’m not a “look at me” kind of guy. I mean, I kind of have to be that role at times to entertain people, but when it comes to work or life, I always thought that you just put your head down and get it done. The last time I went to the World Vets, there were a ton of people there from Manitoba, Canada, who I grew up racing with. Hanging out with all those guys again was cool.

There was one friend of mine, though, Mark Robitaille, who loved racing dirt bikes more than any other. He traveled all over the USA to race these bucket-list type of races at places like RedBud, High Point, Millville—whichever race he thought looked cool, he went there and raced. He bought so many bolt-on accessories for his bike, it looked like he went through an online catalog and ordered one of everything. Whenever he came down to the World Vets, he spent thousands at Chaparral on stuff he didn’t need. He was the epitome of the weekend warrior and followed all my stuff online and in this magazine. And then all weekend long at the Dubya USA World Vets, he would bust everyone and anyone’s balls about anything. Outside of motocross, Mark loved making fun of himself and his friends. He was such a character that I even did a couple of Racer X Podcasts with him.

MATTHES: What wasn’t acceptable was my very first start in ten years, which could only be equated to a couple of monkeys fornicating with a football. It seems that at no point did I think doing a practice start or two might be a good idea after ten years off.

KEEFER: The 40+ Pro motos and the first World Cup of Nations moto were Saturday. I knew I could win the 40+ class, but I also knew Mike Brown was supposed to show up, and of course he did. Mike and I are good buddies, and I know how fast he still is, so I had the game plan of getting the holeshot and making him work for it at least. I managed to get that holeshot on my Yamaha YZ450F in the first moto and was leading after lap one, until Brownie went all Brownie on me. I had the inside line coming into a left-handed corner, but Brownie managed to find an even more inside line and took us both down. I yelled some choice words at him, but by the time I looked up, he was gone.

I somehow worked my way back up to him—probably because I was so pissed—but the checkers flew and moto one was done. I wasn’t as mad as I thought I would be, as we talked about the moto, but my werewolf of a wife was looking for blood, so I had to calm her down before she ripped Brown’s head off. I’m fairly certain Brownie was more afraid of Heather than anything else after the race was over.

MATTHES: Just like I didn’t tell many people about Mark being one of the reasons I raced, I also didn’t tell many people that, shockingly, I enjoyed the whole experience. One of my fears was being embarrassed out there, because I don’t know how fast I am anymore. I mean, I used to be pretty good at riding a motorcycle, but that was a long time ago—1990 and 1991, to be exact. Final tally: 10th overall in 40+ Intermediate on Saturday and 7th overall in 45+ Intermediate on Sunday. Mission accomplished in not embarrassing myself, because being a mid-pack B rider in the 40+ class was perfectly fine and acceptable to me.

KEEFER: The second moto, Mike got the holeshot and I had to work my way up from a fifth-place start, but by the time I got into second, Brownie already had a good-sized lead. I settled for second in 40+ Pro, and while I wasn’t too stoked on that finish, I knew I’d ridden well. The werewolf and Brownie spoke after the race (near the podium), and although I can’t confirm what was said, I do know that Mike will not be getting any shoulder massages going forward. In the 30+ Pro Class on Sunday, the trusty Twisted Development KTM 450 SX-F delivered me the holeshot in front of—wait for it—Mike Alessi! I led for over two laps, but then that damn Brownie got me again. This time he kicked up a rock that somehow went directly into the back of my throat and I couldn’t dislodge it. I pulled off the track and had to go full 2 a.m. last-call club life on the side of the track. After that, my chance of a high finish in the class was over, so I focused on bringing home the Vet Nations Cup for Team America II. Our team consisted of Jeff Loop, Craig Davis, and myself, and we carried a one-point lead over Great Britain into the second and final moto. We may have been considered the B team, but we rode great and took home the win in the first World (Vet) Cup of Nations!

MATTHES: If you were one of the people at Glen Helen who told me you were stoked to see me out there, thanks for that. I appreciate the nice words. And thanks to John and Kristen Anderson at Dubya USA for the help in racing and continuing to see through the vision of the founder of this event, the late, very great Tom White. I know that my old friend Mark Robitaille would’ve absolutely been over the moon with me racing—I can hear him bellowing out insults now. I don’t know if it’ll be another ten years between races for me or not, but I do know that the weekend was a blast, even with all that arm pump.

KEEFER: In other news, Gauldy beat a guy named Kong to become the World Vet 40+ Expert Champion. Matthes placed well in the Intermediate classes, and my werewolf transformed back into a hot, blue-eyed blonde girl. But most of all, we all had a great time hanging out, talking shit, and racing our dirt bikes. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Steve, are you practicing for 2020 yet?