Originally Posted by
genejockey
Yeah, funny how that works, innit? You gain a couple mph on the tailwind side, but lose at least twice that on the headwind side. I think I've seen a maximum 3-5 mph boost with a tailwind vs about a 5-10 mph loss in the other direction.
The first lap, before the wind kicked up, I only lost ~60 seconds on the ~10 miles where I had a straight headwind. The second lap, I think I lost something like 4-5 minutes. I was still on pace, but just barely and I was having to bust ass. The third trip, which was shortened, was at a 15mph pace, which... yeah - there's no making that up.