Handfuls of purple glitter rained down on Dawn Keith and her four teammates as they staggered, pushing their tiny red tricycle, across the finish line of the 2nd annual Tour de Castro on October 20.

“We’re the only team that took shots at every bar,” said Keith, 24, a senior SF State French major. “So, we’re each eight shots in. This is the best fundraiser ever. My mom sponsored me to drink.”

The Tour de Castro, put on by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Inc., is a tricycle race, pub crawl and costume contest all mashed into one afternoon. The 30 participants at this year’s race took turns riding their team’s decorated tricycles, stopping at seven Castro bars for donations and drinks.

And so continues San Francisco’s fascination with tiny cycles, events like the Tour de Castro and the Bring Your Own Big Wheel are nothing new to the City. For one day each year, from 1972 to 1993, riders in the Great Tricycle Race flew through the streets of the Castro District, raising thousands of dollars for various charities.

This event raises money for AIDS Lifecycle riders who come short of the minimum donation to participate in the San Francsico to Los Angeles bicycle ride, which benefits AIDS research. This year’s Tour raised more than $1,300, which was just a fraction of the $8,520 raised last year.

“I had been on the AIDS Lifecycle as a volunteer,” said Sister Mary Juanita High, the original organizer of the event, “and met people who had trained all year, took time off work, invested thousands into a bike and gear; only to fall short of the $2,500 minimum donation.”

Sister Mary Juanita High created the event last year as her initiation from novice to fully professed Sister of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters, known for their fundraising efforts, was started in 1979 and was one of the first organizations supporting San Francisco’s gay community.

As far as zany costumes and enthusiasm, this Tour de Castro was a success. There were seven teams, among them was team Barely Legal Bitches, team What We Have is Better Than Shame and team Golden Shower Girls.

Prizes were given for first, second and third place as well as for the best costume, best tricycle, most money raised and for the coveted title of “most outrageous.”

“The costume level is a little higher than last year,” said Marc Jones, 37, a member of team Golden Shower Girls, who participated with the same group last year.

Jones’ team, which consisted of four men, dressed as the characters from the classic sitcom The Golden Girls, but with a twist. One member, David Ramsay, carried a water-filled plastic bladder tucked under his dress. At each of the seven stops he squatted and let the water flow, as if urinating.

“I’m loving the Golden Shower Girls,” said Sister Uma Gawd, an SF State School of Broadcasting and Electronic Communications Arts alumnus.” They’re definitely living up to their name.”

With Ramsay’s head-turning antics and team renditions of the Golden Girls’ theme song, the members of Golden Shower Girls won their second Most Outrageous title.

For 27-year-old Letty Huerta, a San Francisco Bike Coalition volunteer, there was nothing outrageous about the sunny day in the Castro.

“I’m sure if I wanted to,” said Huerta while working the SFBC pit stop, “I could put on a sparkly dress and a wig, ride a tricycle around and no one would notice.”