House Keeping & a Brush with The Others

From Astana Dennis, the hanging rock over Clear Creek Road on the way to the parking area for Saturday's ride.

Showed up for a ride out of Granville on Sunday.  Also there were Marty, Dave C, Tym T, Kim S, Lon H and a couple others.  All the Tri Types were doing an event elsewhere so the numbers were down but the quality was good.  Route was to go to Martinsburg and on to Bladensburg but we split at Marion Road with 4-5 going on to Martinsburg and the rest (Tym, Kim, Lon, and I) doing something shorter by going into St Louisville while stopping at a market I did not know existed.  Here, Lon bought us drinks, what a guy!  Anyway, with rain headed in, we went farther east towards Newark.

Now for the exciting part of the story! As we closed on Martinsburg Road just north of Newark, a group of cyclists approached.  I thought it odd they brought their arms up to hide their faces and then at the back of the pack there was Ted Meisky.  Suddenly, it occurred to me this was "The Others" a secretive group of super cyclists that train together, with Ted being the only member of the group that goes both ways (rides with The Others and rides with the regular cyclists).  If you are not aware of The Others, they have a winter time training program so rigorous that they are in better shape in March then in September.  They ride the Saturday COP rides on Sundays to avoid the masses.  They ride TOSRV on Monday/Tuesday.  They ride CFC (Columbus Fall Challenge) in April because by October the course is too easy.  If one wants to become a member of The Others one must never ask because to do so means you are too desperate....you must wait to be invited and then there is a hefty initiation fee with monthly dues.  Membership is super secret except for Ted, who is the group's spokesperson.    Realizing how momentous this was, like seeing a UFO for real, I screeched to a stop, grabbed my camera, turned but too late....they wisked around a corner and there is no chance anyone less than a Cat 2 is going to chase these guys down.  Wow, a brush with greatness and I was too slow with the camera to record it.
.