PE teacher recovering from bike accident

PE teacher Paul Elser is recovering from a bicycle accident, which resulted in him tearing the ligaments that hold the clavicle to his shoulder. 

On Sept. 15 at around 2:30 in the afternoon, Elser began his daily bike ride. As he was riding down Rownd Street in Cedar Falls at a fast pace, he looked over his shoulder to see if any oncoming traffic was coming. While his head was turned, his tire hit the side of a curb, resulting in him getting thrown from his bike. He landed on his left shoulder, tearing a ligament. 

“It happened pretty fast and all I remembered thinking was to try and roll with the landing, which I did, but the impact was more than my shoulder could handle,” Elser said. 

There was no need for an ambulance since he was only a few blocks away from his house, but someone did pull over to help Elser. A man with a truck pulled off and offered to take him home.

Through the next couple of weeks, Elser has had to work his shoulder back into daily movements. “I have a list of about 12 exercises that I started doing last week to strengthen my shoulder.” 

Elser is already starting to feel better and get more motion back in his shoulder. Although he did get hurt, he said it could have been much worse. Thanks to Elser following good biking safety, he didn’t sustain more injuries. “I was wearing my helmet. I’m not sure I hit my head, but glad I had the extra protection,” Elser said. 

On the day of the accident, he was riding in preparation for his upcoming biking unit in the high school PE classes, so Elser was very disappointed in not being able to continue his plans.  Although there wasn’t much he could have done to avoid the accident, he said, “I should be paying more attention where I am at on the road, especially when riding at a fast speed.”