San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo celebrated the end of his long road to recovery from a New Year’s Day bicycling accident that had sent him to the hospital by pedaling to his City Hall office Thursday for Bike to Work Day.

“Thrilled to be back on my bike, and just in time for #BikeToWorkDay!” the social-media-savvy mayor tweeted Thursday morning, touting San Jose’s “400+ miles of bikeways” with triumphant video of his ride to work.

On New Year’s Day, police said, Liccardo “broadsided” a sport-utility vehicle that had crossed in front of him on Mabury Road in the city’s scenic eastern foothills, for which the motorist was issued a traffic citation.

Liccardo wound up at Regional Medical Center of San Jose where he was treated for fractures to two vertebrae and his sternum. He met with reporters the next day, arriving in a wheelchair with a brace around his torso.

“I feel very fortunate to be walking,” Liccardo, an avid bicyclist, said at the time, speaking with a swollen lip and bruised face.

Liccardo was released from the hospital the next day and worked from home before returning to City Hall two weeks later.

Related Articles Legendary Chita Rivera brings ‘memory lane’ show to SF But the mayor, who has been a regular Bike to Work Day participant and promoter of bicycling as a healthy alternative to cars, was glad to strap on his helmet and get back in the bicycle saddle Thursday.

“Embrace helmet hair!” Liccardo said.