Welcome to Spring..... I live in North Georgia and we had a rather blustery spring, transition from cold to warm creates all kinds of it. Let me describe a ride I had the other night.........
Left the house, took a regular route that takes an hour to hour 20 minutes. It will be just getting dark in about 1:15. I work all the time and have to take my rides when I can. I took off at a gallop to conserve time.
My warmup leaving the subdivision is a climb up to 13%. It's hilly here.
I got from my neighborhood to the industrial park in 10 minutes, ~5 minutes faster than usual, average speed close to 20. I usually warm up the first 15-20 minutes. I get on the parkway and start cranking. Heart rate stays down, power feels up, I am climbing like a champ. I top a hill at 22 mph instead of 18 and feel strong. I was working toward a 18 mph average while remaining below my lactic threshold. the direction I was running was primarily uphill. I got to the end of the parkway, checked my speedometer 18.9 mph (yippee, look at me), average heart rate 141, easy. I turned around at the bridge and OHMYGOD.
I usually run 22-26 on the rollers on the direction toward home. I started in the drops at a whopping 14 mph. So much for the King Kong syndrome. By this time, I am not going to back off, I have to keep moving to be home before dusk. I ride on some busy country roads and bike lights are not exactly like aircraft landing lights. I put my head down and the hammer too. I made it home with an 18.2 mph avg. and an average heart rate of 156. My tongue had been dragging in the front spokes. I got off the bike and shook my fist at the sky............Haha, didn't get me, at least not all the way. If the ride had been 10 miles longer, I would have folded up. Moral of story, yes, wind sucks........