CDawgVA and Abroad in Japan bring us Charity Cyclethon 4 on April 13th

Chris (left) and Connor (right) arrive victorious at Tokyo Tower after raising $1,021,598 for the Immune Deficiency Foundation in 2024.

One year ago, these two cranky British YouTube personalities raised over One Million Dollars for the Immune Deficiency Foundation while bicycling across Japan. Their trek ending beneath Tokyo Tower to the echoing cheers of hundreds of fans welcoming them and cheering their incredible journey. This year they return with an even more ambitious route as they once again take to the Japanese countryside for a wonderful cause and bear their suffering for thousands around the world to watch live over the course of 15 days. This is Cyclethon 4!

Cyclethon 4: This Year's Mission

Live on Twitch, CDawgVA (Connor) and Abroad in Japan (Chris) will be undertaking a 15 Day cycle this year, beginning at the Eastern-most point of Hokkaido in Northern Japan. Joined by a number of returning and rumoured new guests, they plan to cycle from Hokkaido, taking a night ferry to the mainland and then cycling through Aomori, Sendai, Morioka, to an undisclosed (at time of writing) end point! During the cycle, viewers can watch live and interact with the pair of cyclists via "Text to Speech" messages triggered by making donations on Tiltify.com or by purchasing merchandise that benefits the cause on CDawgVA's merch store.

Please note that the dates of April 13th to 27th are based on Tokyo, so for those of us in North America, this means April 12th to 26th!

The livestream can be found here on CDawgVA's Channel.

UPDATE: The event has ended a massive success! Our coverage can be found here!

Last Year's Cyclethon Lore:

Chris' video here retells the story of Cyclethon 3, and the two week journey to $1 Million raised!

Special Guests along for the ride

Connor and Chris have been relatively tight-lipped about who will be planning on joining for this year's iteration. The mainstay of anime YouTube known often as "Gigguk", Garnt will be joining again this year, and I wish him a dryer and less eventful day of cycling than last year! The lads will also be joined again by Felix, aka the YouTube legend, "PewDiePie" who will no doubt bring legions of eyes to the cause.

Gigguk joined the party for two days during Cyclethon 3

PewDiePie brought high energy and fresh resolve to Chris and Connor

Joining the cycle via Cycle-mounted tablet is award-winning VTuber "Ironmouse" who has Common Variable Immunodeficiency and has been a longtime advocate for the Immune Deficiency Foundation! We are excited to see her able to be there as best as she can be to cheer on the lads as they cycle. Connor has also teased that there will also be new guests this year.

Demon Queen Ironmouse will literally be along for the ride! Just don't call her E.T.!

I expect we will see the return of Pete "PremierTwo" as the resident Hype Man of the "Van Gang" support vehicle alongside the fantastic camerawork of "CameramanPaul" Ballard and the undeniably vital production support of "Uncle Ian" Rudd.

The Faces behind the Handlebars on Charity Cyclethon 4

There are few lines that Connor won't cross for the cause. Having raised $500,000 during his charity auction!

For those unfamiliar with these two, Connor Colquhoun has done extensive charity work with the Immune Deficiency Foundation over the last few years. Multiple Cyclethons, Charity Auctions, and participating in a multitude of other events such as D&D One Shots alongside Ironmouse and Matthew Mercer, raising well over $2 Million in just a few short years. Much of his non-charity related content centers on "Life in Japan", entertaining viewers with crane game arcades, strange bars, "Wacky Weekends" with Abroad in Japan, and that is just his YouTube. On his Twitch channel he can usually be found playing rage games like Jump King (he voice acts in a fun one called Get to Work), gaming with his close friend, Ironmouse, or taking an IRL Stroll around Tokyo. He is also one third of the weekly airing podcast Trash Taste which has just passed their 250th weekly episode talking about pop culture in Japan (not just anime!) and their lives there as content creators.

Chris' documentary work brings Japanese culture and major events to the rest of the world, even meeting Ken Watanabe to hear how he helped to rebuild the town of Kesennuma, post-tsunami.

Abroad in Japan is the other face of this incredible annual event, also known as the "Calf-able, Cantankerous, Connoisseur of Camembert", New York Times Best Selling Author, Chris Broad. Chris has been a mainstay in Japanese Travel YouTube for the last 12 years and every year, many would-be travelers to Japan learn about the culture through his videos. He began his journey through the "JET" program, through which thousands of applicants every year apply for the chance to travel to Japan and teach English. His videos are comedic and informative, as Chris' passion for cinema and directorial skills shines through his work. He is also undefeated in Chess Boxing and last year attended a State Banquet to celebrate UK-Japanese relations, where he met King Charles and Emperor Naruhito. He and fellow YouTuber/betrothed Sharmeleon opened LOST Bar in Shibuya, Tokyo last year, which has quickly become a hot spot for tourists visiting Tokyo.