05\11\16 - Essex 3 R's 100km Audax + ECE 100km

An Extended Calendar Event is a mechanism whereby it's possible to enter a Calendar Event, in this case the Essex 3 R's, but by riding to\from the Arrivee it can be counted as a longer ride, and I needed another 200 to complete the RRTY set.  So I left home as 06:10 and nipped into Hertford to get a timed till receipt.  Then it was off to Witham.  By 07:00 it was fairly light, but cold.  I had a 70km trip to make but soon realised that I wouldn't have to fight a headwind and was therefore able to relax in the knowledge that I would get there in time.  Arrived at Witham at 09:35 for a 10:00 start.  All was OK until Latchingdon where I turned west and immediately realised that the journey home might be difficult as the wind had got up to a disagreeable amount of stiffness.  Got back to Witham by 15:00 and set off on the return.  I only needed to get to Hatfield Heath in order to complete the ECE, but then I still had to get back home.  I ended up doing 250kms and got back just after 7pm.  I wore several layers of clothing on the day and didn't get cold although I got a few scares from the noise of some of the fireworks on display!  Maybe on my next ECE I should prepare a route that I can drive to the start, ride 50+kms to the start and then 50kms back to the car.  PW.