To date, there have been 30 accidents involving cyclists and vehicles, including two fatalities. There were 37 wrecks involving bicycles in 2010, including one fatality, according to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

"The general feeling is dismay," said Randy DuTeau, of the Augusta Sports Council and one of several charter members of the nascent Augusta Wheel Movement.

Foremost are the losses of two accomplished cyclists in Augusta's cycling community.

Dr. Matthew Burke died in February from injuries received in a wreck in October during a group ride in Beech Island.

A fellow doctor at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical center, Dan Dickinson, was killed Aug. 1 in the 3800 block of Belair Road while commuting to work.

"It's losing people that were close friends; that's the really hard part," DuTeau said.

On Monday evening, Ernest Tanner, 57, of Augusta, was rear-ended by a truck in the 1700 block of Tobacco Road. He remains in critical condition at Medical College of Georgia Hospital, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The latest figures on wrecks involving bicycles from the National Highway Traffic Safety only extend to 2009. A review of the 10 most populous counties in Georgia, as determined by the 2000 census, shows Richmond County falls toward the bottom of the list for the number of fatal bicycle incidents.

From 2005 to 2009, Fulton County, home to Atlanta, had six fatal incidents; a close second is Chatham County and Savannah, which had five incidents.

Richmond County had just two incidents in that time frame, both in 2007. Those two incidents, however, gave Richmond County the highest number of fatalities per 100,000 people out of all counties.