Matt Gelso
Age: 17
Personal Coach: Jeff Schloss
Hometown: Truckee, CA
. Some people don’t even realize there are mountains in California, let alone snow. At Junior Nationals in 2005 I was asked by an unnamed girl from Montana where the Palm Trees were- I believe we were standing at the race venue at the time. I have also been told about the ‘stereotypical’ Californian: He/she is loud, somewhat obnoxious, completely full of him/her self (this is a key element): he wears sweatbands and dresses like a ‘gangster’, she has blonde hair and always wears colorful and rather suggestive clothing and is kind of a ditz. Could this stereotype be due to such sitcoms as Laguna Beach or The OC? Who knows. I can assure you Norcal is nothing like the aforementioned Socal.<br />
The overall Norcal scene, as anyone from the area will tell you, is pretty relaxed. This could be in large part due to the amount of illicit ‘crops’ grown in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but that doesn’t really concern us…<br />
Norcal is where it’s at. I could not live in a better place. I can road bike, mountain bike, kayak, rock climb, ski, run, and roller ski all within 15 minutes of my house. To add to this, the weather is very rarely ‘bad’, as any of you who were at JO’s in Tahoe can attest to. The percent of bright, sunny, blue-bird days is probably around 90 or so. Here is a link to the weather forecast for the Tahoe area <a href=http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Truckee.html?bannertypeclick=big2.)
http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Truckee.html?bannertypeclick=big2.
What is your first impression about training with the Continental Cup and World Cup teams?
It seems like the team gets along very well. Many of the team are fairly like minded in their competitive drive and everyone seems to be pretty down to earth and intelligent. The team has good chemistry.
What are you looking forward to getting accomplished at the July Camp?
I am excited to get back to Park City and train with the other guys and hang out with the team. When I am around other people who are very focused, even more so than I am, it rubs off on me and I train very well. I also would like to play some more evening golf at Park City Mountain Resort and see if I can break into the 40’s, as I certainly couldn’t in May…
Matt, best of luck at Boulder.
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