What I meant about the wind was this:  when we went into the wind, we went directly into it.   Since it is direct, it is for the shortest time possible.   When we went north, it wasn't so direct, and we had the benefit of the wind for more miles.  
 
I was riding a wedgie 3 months ago.   Coming to a recumbent, I find that a tailwind still helps, but a headwind doesn't hurt as much as it used to.  So maybe some of that newness is still at play for me
 

JAY!!!  I saw that slow Xstream pick up alot of speed when that long legged Blond go infront of you!!

This too was my first HHH and my first 100 miler so I was not sure what to expect. The decision to go was last minute, 2:30am Saturday morning to be exact . Needless to say I wasn't sure where to find the group and I'd yet to make a group ride to meet anyone so I lined up and started pretty far back. The first 10 minutes were interesting as they required scooting along on the bike until we got through the starting gate but once we got started it was a pretty fast pace up to 25+ for some parts of the race. I somehow even clocked some 1m 30sec miles but most were sub 3min. I too struggled tremendouly with the head winds on the last stretch until we hit the Airforce Base which was truely a thrill for me since my son recently finished his training there. Finally finished up about 1:30pm after some very lenghty rest stops. It was a very tough ride but all in all it was tons of fun and I really enjoyed getting to meet and ride with some of you and the other Bent riders that were there.  Looking forward to the next ride.
 
Paul, thanks for the pic BTW.  

 
Mike Russell - "Russ"