So chalk it up to my nature as a skeptic. Yes, you rode for nearly 20 minutes in winds of +40mph and gusts nearing 60mph. I've done the same. Nothing remarkable about the event. High wind for a few minutes is part of cycling. When people say, "I rode in XXmph winds," I think sustained. Last week I rode directly into a sustained 20mph headwind for over an hour-- out of a 4.5 hour ride. That hour was unequivocally miserable. The rest of the ride was pretty great.

But I would never claim to anyone, EVER, under any circumstances, that I did a whole ride in 20mph+ winds-- much less 40 or 60 or whatever else. It's simple absurdity.

Hyperbole is a tool best used for rhetoric. When it comes to regaling bystanders with tales of great deeds done, it just sounds like bragadoccio.