The switch from the triple to the double may have mattered if the bike the triple was on weighed 30 pounds with poorly adjusted bearings and the double-equipped bike was 18 pounds and tuned properly but that about the only way the change could have contributed noticably to your speed.

I concur with njkayaker's disbelief that lighter wheels (and/or tires) make you faster. They may accelerate a bit faster and the lower weight (on anything) can let you climb faster but, on reasonably level ground at nearly constant speed, they will have no benefit.