CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Since Jonny Moseley won the Olympic moguls gold medal in Nagano, his life has changed in ways he’s still getting used to.

He’s made the talk show circuit and chatted with Dave and Rosie. He got to meet Brooke Shields.

His movie star looks, set off with a constant grin, happy-go-lucky attitude, and natural charisma, have turned him into freestyle skiing’s poster boy.

And between runs of the Chevy Truck U.S. Freestyle Championships at Sugarloaf/USA on Friday – which he of course won, turning in a 27.11-point final run – the Tiburon, Calif., 22-year-old shared the absolutely, top-notch, best thing that’s happened to him since he mined Olympic gold.

“The coolest thing was when I got to go to Universal Studios and they gave me carte blanche to all the rides,” Moseley said, his normally animated face taking on an almost fanatical glow.

And despite the fact that Moseley is taking great pains to – in the vernacular of his generation – keep it real, he admits he got a little carried away.

“So I just got on this Back to the Future ride and rode it like 18 times while the line was like three hours long. I was just a total jerk.”

If that remains Moseley’s definition of “total jerk,” he’ll do OK with his stardom.

Moseley defeated Garth Hager of Bothell, Wash., to win his first U.S. moguls crown. Alex Wilson of Williamsville, N.Y., was third.

Ski fans were treated to impressive action under sunny skies, with temperatures reaching the 60s. T-shirts and sunglasses were everywhere, and even some hardy souls in shorts watched from the side of the Skidder trail.

In the women’s moguls competition, Liz McIntyre, 32, of Winter Park, Colo., topped the field with a score of 24.66. Ann Battelle of Steamboat Springs, Colo., was second and Jillian Vogtli of Brockport, N.Y., took third.

Donna Weinbrecht, who won moguls gold at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, sat out the competition nursing a swollen knee but was there to offer moral support to the skiers.

Both the men’s and women’s winners earned $2,000.

Moseley arrived at Sugarloaf on Thursday sporting a recent cut over his left eye that he willingly explained to anyone who’d listen. It left eye that he willingly explained to anyone who’d listen. It seems the world’s best moguls skier wanted to broaden his horizons a bit.

“I was down at Sunday River, hanging out at a snowboard event, and I whacked myself off the quarter pipe,” Moseley said. “I was just so psyched to actually get above the top of the lip that I forgot to land and just turfed it in.”

While some skiers turfed it in during Friday’s two runs, Moseley was near perfect. He used the same tactics – and tricks – that led him to gold in Nagano.

First came a few gnarly bumps, which he negotiated with ease. Then came a jump – the Double Twister Spread. Then a few more moguls were followed by The Move. That’s the one that everyone, including Moseley, is willing to call the “Moseley Air.”

Moseley admits that it’s really called – among other things – a Heli Mute Grab, during which his skis cross at right angles while he spins in a slow 360-degree turn and he grasps one board while hanging out high above slopeside.

The move has been around for years, but Moseley claimed it as his own when he wowed the Nagano crowd with it, using it for just the second time in competition. After he got back to the U.S., one veteran informed Moseley that the move wasn’t really his.

“I said, `I know, man. I never claimed it,”‘ Moseley said. Then he widens his grin and shares the punchline he sprung on the vet: “But you never did it on CBS.”

In the women’s competition, McIntyre earned her first U.S. title despite a knee that faces a bone graft and reconstructive surgery during the off-season.

McIntyre said she finally succeeded in the national competition because she decided she didn’t care how she fared.

And when she decided to soften her second jump from a Daffy Double Twister to a Daffy Twister, no problem.

“I came in a little tired and a little hot, and decided that wouldn’t be the best idea,” she said.

Battelle said performing in the soft snow took some getting used to.

“I think it was mooshier (in the afternoon finals) than in (the semis), so I was just baking it,” Battelle said. “The most important thing is you have to make sure you keep your skis going down the hill.”

Moseley said the conditions were fine with him.

“You can really work on the technique that you’ve been trying to get after, because it’s a little more forgiving,” Moseley said. “On the other hand, it’s catchy. You have to watch out for the snow snakes.”

Snow snakes? Moseley’s biggest threat may be snowBOARDS.

US Freestyle Championships AT CARRABASSET VALLEY Men

1. Jonny Moseley, Tiburon, Calif., 27.11 points; 2. Garth Hager, Bothell, Wash., 26.32; 3. Alex Wilson, Buffalo, N.Y., 25.52; 4. Harold Ehnbom, Telluride, Colo., 25.36; 5. Luke Westerlund, Breckenridge, Colo., 24.95; 6. Travis Ramos, South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 24.43; 7. Caleb Martin, Telluride, Colo., 23.81; 8. Erick Nordstrom, Acton, Mass., 23.50; 9. Toby Dawson, Vail, Colo., 23.31; 10. Tony Basile, Squaw Valley, Calif., 23.02 Women

1. Liz McIntyre, Winter Park, Colo., 24.66; 2. Ann Battelle, Steamboat Springs, Colo., 24.63; 3. Jillian Vogtli, Ellicotville, N.Y., 24.54; 4. Michelle Roark, Westminster, Colo., 24.49; 5. Justine Van Houte, Telluride, Colo., 23.01; 6. Cindy Burkart, Breckenridge, Colo., 22.71; 7. Brooke Ballachey, South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 22.45; 8. Courtney Cannan, Saco, Maine, 22.16; 9. Emily Heller, Durango, Colo., 22.07; 10. Shannon Bahrke, Tahoe City, Calif., 21.90