Where are the babies that need kissed?

I did say I would wait seven to ten days before I asked for your vote again for the Breck Epic, but I never said I wouldn't point you towards some big time cycling blog celebrities that might have asked for you to vote for me in the last coupla weeks.

Namrita O'Dea, star rider for the incredibly professional Topeak Ergon mountain bike team (so pro their shorts match their shirts... what month will you be in 2010 Nam?), had this to say on Feb 17th:

"OK, this is a blogger contest. Clearly, we all know who has the most entertaining blog.

VOTE FOR DICKY

No, I'm not getting anything for this endorsement...but I should."

Notice that she kept it short and sweet. Those pro bike racers are tooo busy to keep up with lengthy blog posts just to entertain the fans. Also note that I gave her nothing for her endorsement, although she emailed me to let me know to expect a paypal invoice.

Charlotte messenger and summiter of the infamous Pico de Orizaba (which loosely translates to "tomato of unusual size" Big Worm had this to say on Feb 19th:

"...Team Which Ever Way the Wind Blows in the Direction of Free Shit needs our vote.... I heard him bitching just yesterday that he was leading the contest but was not at all comfortable with the gap. So with that said all of you my beautiful audience out there reading my psycho babble not necessarily in the bike loop please help him with a vote and once you see how easy it is please pass on to everyone you know in a communal effort to help send this man to his dream of a free ride at a very hard mountain bike event."

Big Worm won the free trip to Trans Germany a few year's back on Race Face's dime, so he knows which way the wind blows too...

The Hawley blog which distributes bike parts and fortune cookies to every corner of our circular planet was thrilled to be able to take part in the campaign to send me out West. This is from Feb 18th:

"...racer Dicky "Rich" Dillen is in the running for a spot at the Breck Epic stage race. It's quite simple: go to the site and vote for Dicky. Then you read his blog in a month and see if he won the spot. If not, you have the Blog's blessing (strongarmed encouragement girded by nightly bed-wetting fits) to heckle the poor lil' fellow (troll baby) until your vocal chords are "raw and severed""

Did I mention that Hawley has an entire warehouse that distributes fitted plastic sheets? It's true.

Thad, my 2009 PMBAR and DSG partner, fellow MOOTS anticipater, Swiftwick plebe, and all around nice guy had this to day back on Feb 18th:

"I'd be remiss not to point out the recent begging and pleading resonating from further East. Please help send Dicky to the Breck Epic Stage race. Vote for Dicko! Trust me, you don't want to read his wrath if he loses. It'll be daily mope stories and how we all suck for not helping him win. It'll be worse than crumbling corporations. Yup, the blame will befall us. He's one of 'those' kind. It's never his fault, always your fault. Please, do all you can to send whiny britches to Breck."

Now there's an endorsement if I've ever seen one. Let's face it, he just wants me to win so he can tell all his little friends in Tennessee he knows this really cool guy who won an internet popularity contest hoping that it will fill that little empty spot in his heart left over from his childhood experience of not getting asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

Elk, my 2008 PMBAR partner who was the sole reason for our outstanding second place at said event (we were beat by indigenous elves) gushed profusely with positive energy on Feb 22nd:

"I'm also recommending you vote for Dicky and (name omitted because it wasn't mine again). Dicky is a no-brainer since he's without question the King of the Cycling Blogosphere."

"The King"?? Sweet. The coronation will be at my house this Sunday. Please bring a covered dish, a gift (under $250 in value), and your finest horse.

Faces of Dicky managed to scour the archives of the local paper from the town I grew up in as a boy. In 1986 I had called a press conference to reveal a prophecy that came to me in a dream. Back then I was scoffed and guffawed off stage, but who's laughing now?? FOD posted this image on Feb 23rd:

The foretelling powers of a mullet should never be underestimated.

I would link you to fellow blogger contestant Tomi's endorsement of Bad Idea Racing, but he has been the John McCain to my George Bush. I have done everything I can for the man here and there, but he just seems like he wants to put as much distance between he and I as possible. Et tu Tomi, et tu?

and as for the slander slinging mudfest that the Rush Limbaugh of the Canadiananican cycling world has been carrying on for the past few days??? I'll discuss that tomorrow.