October 15, 2008; News 12 at 11

AUGUSTA - A bicyclist, dressed as Uncle Sam, is recovering after a van hits him on the corner of Broad Street and 15th Street in downtown Augusta.

Witnesses say he hurt his leg, but they believe he will recover. A fellow rider says Uncle Sam, who is a student at the Medical College of Georgia, just needs a few stitches.

It happened around 8:30 Wednesday night as he was riding with a group of about 25 other people also riding bikes in costume.

According to a man dressed as a devil, the group was part of a Critical Mass. When News 12 asked him what a Critical Mass was, he directed us to Wikipedia. This is what we found:

"Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 around the world. While the ride was originally founded with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal. In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is not formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and traveling as a group through city or town streets."

This isn't Friday, and the biker did not specify if this ride was in protest of anything.

Deputies are now looking to see if the van was at fault or if the rider was too far out in the street. So far, no one is facing any charges.