Come on now, haven't you ever heard of a tailwind? Actually, what made it extra nice was the fact that it was markedly warmer and sunny down at the boat basin. Not only was the wind favorable in terms of cardinal direction generally at the time, there was a rising current up the hill as well.

I saw a LOT of folks out there, including some guys from Weather Channel, ironically (one of the most accomplished local racing teams), and I'm surprised more folks didn't try it - Strava indicates several folks I know to be stronger did the same segment but had totally ordinary times, and hardly anyone even come close yesterday. I guess they didn't know what they were missing - or thought it would be "cheating."