You know you are in trouble when you are walking your bicycle uphill in the first mile of a 25-mile bike ride.
Not to mention at the same time you see your wife in front of you riding away up that same hill.
So it went for me Saturday morning during the Wellmark Tour de Oahe in Pierre.
I have driven to, in and around Pierre plenty of times in my life. But when did they get all those hills?
This was my first time on a bicycle in Pierre. I guess going up a hill is easy when all you have to do is step on the gas.
Of course, there were others that I knew who did this annual bike ride as well: Jay and Connie Kusler, Jim Kersten and former Aberdeen residents Randy and Mary Turner, now of Pierre.
Randy was co-champion of the Friday night Prologue race. Jim and brother, John, are fresh off their third-straight Race the Red championship, a 10-mile canoe race held annually in Fargo, N.D. And the Kuslers are a very athletic family as well.
They did a 62-mile ride (there was a 41-mile ride, too). And they probably did it quicker than the 2 hours it took me to finish my ride.
When I Googled the 25-mile ride on the Oahe Dam Loop, I am pretty sure I remember words like "easy" and "leisurely." When we were driving to the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area for the Friday night registration event, I was driving up and down the hills and thinking to myself, "Huh."
Meanwhile, wife, Janene, was saying stuff like, "Isn't this beautiful? I can't wait for the ride tomorrow. We should have signed up for the 62-mile ride."
Silently, I started to worry over the 25-mile ride ahead. Doubt was seriously creeping into my mind as "easy" and "leisurely" started to become blurry.
"Huh," I thought to myself.
Saturday morning, we were off. And soon, I was off my bike walking part way up that first hill.
It got a little easier, but I still had to walk part way up a couple of those hills. There was a small group of us hill walkers.
Encouraging wife, Janene, a former Cresbard cheerleader/athlete, was nice enough to wait for me. She probably could have done the loop twice in the time it took me to do it once.
Luckily, the first seven miles or so was the tough part. It got easier.
When we finished and before I could shout, "It's over," my wife had jumped off her bike and said, "That was so much fun! What a beautiful ride. The scenery was great and the people who organized the race were so friendly and did such a great job. Where do we sign up next year?"
All true, but still, I couldn't help but think to myself, "Huh."
Faulkton
This is starting to be a habit.
I used to be the family journalist. My family used to tell me interesting stuff.
"Put that in your column," I remember they used to stay. Now, I don't hear that anymore, especially from those in the Faulkton region.
Now, everything first has to go through the Faulk County Record. Longtime owners and friends Jim and Jody Moritz - plus talented son Garrick - have run a great weekly newspaper in Faulkton for decades. That region is lucky to have such a great, informative newspaper chronicling life in the area each week through photographs, stories, advertising and public notices.
Anyway, during my trip to Pierre, I was told of a couple of neat wood carvings recently done in Faulkton. I took a picture of them, but I was told, "Make sure you don't put those pictures in the Aberdeen paper before they are in the Faulkton paper."
"Huh," I thought to myself.
Faulkton II
We lost a great coach this past week.
Garry Cunningham, 67, of Faulkton died Wednesday. His Mass will be at 11 this morning at Faulkton High School.
Garry was a great athlete himself, and for more than 25 years, he shared what he learned with hundreds of athletes in a variety of sports in the Faulkton and Cresbard area.
Lakeside Country Club was his summer home and Garry spent countless hours there as the golf course manager, putting in the labor and overseeing many improvements.
That is what Garry was all about: giving of himself to make life better for others. He was a kind, gentle and multi-talented spirit, and I always enjoyed talking to him.
Recently, the Faulkton football and baseball field were named the Garry Cunningham Sports Complex. It was a fitting tribute to a man who contributed so much to all ages of his hometown.
John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@aberdeennews.com.
Twitter: @jpapendick.