The final five miles or so were a welcome downhill run past the mouth of Canyon de Chelly.

Mileage: about 105 miles (depending on whose cyclocomputer we were reading), with just under 5,000 feet of climbing registered on my altimeter.

We coasted to a stop back at our rooms at the Thunderbird Lodge, took quick showers, and then made our way into Chinle for dinner. We dinned on a variety of Navajo dishes including Navajo tacos, Navajo fry bread, posole, and mutton stew, as we reminisce about the day which, at least for me, lived up to the Rapha motto: "Glory Through Suffering."