As I tend to field all of the sponsorship requests that come through these parts, due to the fact that we well over extended ourselves last year in that department and the general crap state of the economy this year, more often than not I unfortunately have to decline.

Every now and again however, a request for help comes along that we just cant ignore.

Case in point? This one from our friend Tod.

"I along with some friends and collaborators (including the street artist Swoon) are preparing for the most ambitious bit of living I have ever done. The past three summers we (along with a crew of 30+ other people) have traveled on junk rafts down both the Mississippi and Hudson rivers. This coming Spring/Summer we will be building three junk rafts in Slovenia and traversing the coast of the Adriatic Sea to eventually land in Venice. After that, along with a few other members of the crew, I plan to join a couple friends from the Black Label Bicycle Club to travel by bicycle through Japan and Indonesia, exploring their different underground bike cultures along the way. All told, this voyage looks to be 4+ months, living outdoors, traveling either on junk rafts or bicycles in a wide variety of climates.

This is a pretty crazy voyage, and we are currently fundraising practically every weekend to try and make it happen. I am looking for companies to sponsor me to help me be adequetely prepared for this trek. Mainly I am looking for a waterproof messenger backpack, or other bike/trekking gear. I don't know if I am going to be able to get my bike over there, or will have to fix up a beater wherever I am. My bike is also kinda "eh", a frame I found in the trash and fixed up with bartered parts. So rolling on a folding tall bike (what the rest of the crew will be riding) seems a better bet anyway. Just have to find the parts and build one, hmmm. . ."

Yeah, it's an understatement to say my man is ambitious..

Hell, I was so taken with Tod's proposal, I sent him my own personal Ortlieb backpack to aid in his cause.

Like everything in life however, you cant get something for nothing, and in exchange for the goods we sent, we asked him to please keep us in the loop with a few words and a few shots every now and again as the adventure progresses.

We look forward to hearing about how this all transpires.