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It's that time again, time for me to ask you to support the Podium Cafe through another year of ... that thing we do. Do you love the Classics? Do you love Cross? Do you love the Giro? Do you love women's cycling, in all its forms? Do you love the ENECO Tour? We sure do. Every day, and twice on race day.
CtC: Really? And how exactly does that work? 
Oh, great. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Cuddles the Cobble. Cuddles volunteered to do some phone banking during our pledge drive. You might remember Cuddles from such phone drive highlights as "why would we accept Euros?" and "pledge now or the cobbles coverage gets it!"
CtC: That would have worked.
Indeed. Anyway, Cuddles, since you're here, why don't you talk a little bit about why people should pledge their support to the Podium Cafe?
CtC: ...
Um, Cuddles?
CtC: Oh, right. Well, with your pledge you get another year's worth of award-winning coverage of all things pro cycling, from the classics, to the women's scene, to all the other stuff Chris already mentioned. Which you can also have for free.
Wow, thanks Cuddles. Way to close.
Anyway, every year we ask for your help in taking care of our petty cash needs, which we use for things like perfecting the FSA Directeur Sportif and sending writers and photographers to races, as well as some more mundane stuff like mailing prizes to the Netherlands (again). And that's just the stuff I know of; if you have ideas of community activities that require a little cash behind them, feel free to make your pitch. Whether we can top the Cobble trophy from Les Amis du Paris-Roubaix, I dunno, but we can try.
Last year I vowed to turn some of that cash into Podium Cafe caps. That hasn't happened yet, but I'm not going to go pointing fingers at people like Ant1. Regardless, there is no WAY it doesn't happen in 2014. Of this, you can be sure. Oh, and coming in 2015: Podium Cafe House at the Richmond World Championships! Drew is already scouting places to get drunk. Well, Drew has beer anyway.
In any event, please consider making a donation to the cause today. How? By sending a donation via Paypal using the recipient email address of podiumcafe [at] yahoo [dot] com. Or contact me, Chris [at] podiumcafe[dot]com to make other arrangements. Thank you very much!
CtC: And don't forget: no donation, no ENECO live threads.
Thanks Cuddles, you're the best.