Here's what to do about wind: If it's a westerly, catch a train or get someone to drive you a goodly distance upwind, to the west. For me that means Blackpool, which is a dump that I want to leave as fast as possible. This means I get a wind-assisted ride all the way home, which makes me feel great and bumps up my average speed by 2-3 mph. I can also ride east, to Settle for example, where I meet my family for coffee at The Naked Man and get a lift home.
I'm not ashamed to cheat in this way because it enables me to mix cycling with family stuff and it gives me fast exciting riding with a destination in mind rather than just going round my usual circuits.