Nearly 1200 riders enjoyed perfect weather conditions and fresh singletrack at the Ritchey Oktoberfest at Ashton Court, Bristol.

After the hugely popular Ritchey Bikefest in June, expectations were high for the second outing of the Oktoberfest, which used the newly-completed course Ashton course.

Fears that overtaking might be impossible were quickly put aside after the riders completed a couple of laps on the 10km trail.

This year didn’t just see a big increase in riders but also saw a few rather unexpected faces getting involved in endurance racing.

Martyn Ashton, Steve Peat and Sam Pilgrim from Bike Riders United made an appearance in the second four-hour race of the event and showed the riders that they are not just great in their individual discipline but also as all-round riders.

Event photographer Jon Brooke took almost 4000 throughout the day – head to www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk to view and purchase the images.

Oktoberfest was turned into a weekend double-header in 2011 with the addition of the Run Rider off-road duathlon, using the Oktoberfest riding course but also incorporating some of the more demanding running trails Ashton Court has to offer.

The athletes were greeted with near-perfect racing conditions (sunny but not too warm) and at 10am almost 200 people took on one of the two course lengths on offer. The race started off at an impressive pace and it would not take long before the first runners were back into the transition to change to the bike or to start their second running lap.

After around one hour, 45 minutes the winner of the standard Run Rider (short course) came over the line, with the last athlete on the classic (long course) completing after almost four hours on the trail.

Provisional dates have been set for 2012, with Bikefest pencilled in for June 9-10, Oktoberfest on October 13 and Run Rider on October 14.