How to Find Group Rides in Slovenia

Riding alone gets old fast. In Slovenia you can find a group in a few ways: join a local club, show up at a free community ride, enter an organized event, or use Coffeeride to filter rides by pace, discipline and place. Pick the route that suits you, then roll out with a crew.

This guide covers all of them, with real Slovenian clubs and programs, a checklist for your first ride and a plan for each type of rider.

TL;DR

• Start with free rides: Ljubljana’s Rajd club runs open group rides from May to October, and the national federation (KZS) runs the Gremo na kolo! program.
• Use the KZS club directory to find a club near you, from Ljubljana to Maribor, Kranj, Celje and Bled.
• Women have dedicated options, including monthly women’s weekend rides and women-focused bikepacking events.
• Be honest about pace and terrain. Slovenia’s hinterland is hilly, and most routes share roads with traffic.
• On Coffeeride you can post a ride, filter by pace and discipline, and chat with the group before you roll out.

Table of Contents

• Where group rides in Slovenia come from
• Join a club
• Try free community rides first
• Match the ride to your pace and discipline
• Find your crew on Coffeeride
• Women’s group rides in Slovenia
• Competitive riders: events and training groups
• Before you join: a safety checklist
• Riding with family, or starting a club
• Our perspective
• FAQ
• Sources

Where group rides in Slovenia come from

Slovenia’s group riding scene runs on four sources. Each suits a different rider.

1. Clubs. Local cycling societies run weekly rides and often have road, MTB and recreational sections.
2. Open community rides. Free, drop-in rides, usually seasonal.
3. National programs and events. Schools, guided tours and mass-start events.
4. Apps and platforms. Rides posted by riders, filterable by pace, so you can find your match without knowing anyone.

Most riders mix them. A club for the Sunday run, an app for midweek spins, an event or two for a goal.

Join a club

The Cycling Federation of Slovenia keeps a directory of affiliated cycling clubs, sorted by road, mountain and recreational cycling. It lists clubs in Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj, Celje, Nova Gorica, Ptuj, Bled and other towns, with contact details for each. Ljubljana entries include KD Rog and Golovec Trails, and Novo Mesto has KK Novo Mesto.

Outside the capital, clubs can be big. Kolesarsko društvo Litijski Tempomat says it has more than 200 members and plans Sunday group rides it calls “Tempomat runda”.

How to approach a club:

• Email or message first. Say your discipline, your usual pace and how long you’ve been riding.
• Ask whether a guest ride is possible before you commit to membership.
• Ask about the group’s regroup rules: does the bunch wait at the top of climbs, or is it every rider for themselves?

If you want to see what clubs do well, our guide to club ride rules shows how good groups keep rides smooth.

Try free community rides first

If joining a club feels like a big step, start with a drop-in ride. Rajd, a Ljubljana club, runs free group rides and workshops from May to October, weather permitting. The mix includes beginner and advanced MTB rides, MTB rides with workshops, and moderate-pace road rides. Rajd shares dates, routes, times and meeting points through its newsletter, Facebook profile and website.

The national federation adds another layer. Its Gremo na kolo! program offers free cycling schools and guided tours across Slovenia for road and mountain cyclists. KZS says the aim is health, socializing, fun, sustainable mobility and better cycling skills. Check the KZS page for the current schedule near you.

For mountain bikers who want a place to learn, the Zagorska dolina club’s Cilenca Trails is built for all skill levels. It has trails of differing difficulty, a pump track, a skills area and seasonal technique courses with beginner instruction by qualified staff.

Want more MTB-specific options? See our guide to mountain biking groups in Slovenia and the top MTB trails with park rules and GPX.

Match the ride to your pace and discipline

The fastest way to ruin a group ride is a pace mismatch. Too slow and you’re bored. Too fast and you’re dropped on a climb with no idea where you are. Before you join, settle four things.

The terrain point is real. Visit Ljubljana notes that the city itself is flat, but the surrounding hinterland is predominantly hilly, so riders should judge their experience before choosing a route.

When in doubt, pick the group below your ceiling for your first outing. You can always move up. Our walkthrough on finding a pace-matched group ride in five minutes shows how to do it with filters instead of guesswork.

Find your crew on Coffeeride

Coffeeride is built for exactly this: social connection over solo tracking. Here’s how it works.

1. Browse rides near you. Filter by discipline, pace and interests.
2. Join a ride. Each ride has its own group chat, so you can ask about the meeting point, the route and the regroup plan.
3. Post your own. Name the route, set the pace, pick a start. Public or private.
4. Join or run a club. Clubs get chat and recurring events, so the Tuesday ride doesn’t need to be reposted every week.
5. Use the inclusive options. Women-only rides carry a pink badge, and para-cycling rides are available too, with privacy protected inside the app.

If you are planning routes, our GPX-ready Slovenia routes with local ride hosts and the Ljubljana routes and local group rides are good places to start.

Ready to stop riding alone? Join Coffeeride free, post a ride or join one this week, and meet your peloton.

Women’s group rides in Slovenia

Many women prefer a group where nobody needs to prove anything. Slovenia has some good options.

• Authentic Women Cycling organizes monthly weekend group rides for women in scenic parts of Slovenia.
• Sisters in the Wild, which was born in Slovenia, runs bikepacking events for women, trans and non-binary riders, including beginner-friendly guided rides and skill-building in a supported setting.
• Coffeeride has women-only rides marked with a pink badge, so you can see at a glance which rides are open to you.

How to judge safety before you go:

• Read the ride description. A clear meeting point, a stated pace and a named host are good signs.
• Message the host first. A good host answers questions about route, pace and who else is coming.
• Tell a friend your route and start time.
• Meet in a public place, and trust your instincts. You can leave a ride at any time.

Competitive riders: events and training groups

If you want hard efforts, look for events and faster training groups.

The best-known is Maraton Franja BTC City in Ljubljana. It is part of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, has distances from 100 to 157 km, and is held every June as a multi-day weekend with a time trial and a family marathon. It first ran in 1982. Entry rules and dates change, so check the organizer’s page for the current edition.

Smaller events are a gentler start. The Tri srca Radenci event offered 28, 54 and 75 km routes in 2026 and said e-bike riders could take part. Check the organizer for future editions.

For a full calendar, see our guide to cycling events in Ljubljana.

To prepare for a long event, a structured session such as the lactate shuttle workout can help you sharpen your effort control before you line up with a fast bunch.

Then find the training partners. Post a hard ride on Coffeeride with a stated pace, say “no drop” or “strong riders only”, and let people with the same goal reply.

Before you join: a safety checklist

Slovenia is a great place to ride, but roads are shared. The national tourist board says the majority of cycling routes use roads with motorized traffic, so caution is needed, along with consideration for other cyclists and pedestrians.

For Rajd rides, participants must wear a helmet, ride a safe bicycle and take responsibility for their own safety. It’s a good baseline for any group.

Bring:

• A helmet, and clothing that fits the weather and the terrain.
• A bike that has been checked: brakes, tires, chain.
• A spare tube, tools and a pump.
• Water and food.
• A phone with the route and the host’s number.

Then the etiquette. Point out hazards, hold your line, call “stopping” and “car back”, and don’t half-wheel. Our 5-point pre-ride checklist for group ride etiquette covers this in detail.

Events add their own rules. Radenci’s conditions, for example, require a visible start number and a protective helmet, and say participants ride in traffic at their own responsibility.

Riding with family, or starting a club

If you ride with kids, look for groups with a set pace and a plan for stops. Our guide to family group rides in Slovenia, schools and events lists what to look for.

If you can’t find the group you want, start it. Pick a day, a pace and a coffee stop. Post it, and see who turns up. Our 8-step guide to starting a cycling club in Slovenia walks through it, and you can test the idea on Coffeeride first.

Our perspective

We built Coffeeride because most cycling apps are about tracking: your speed, your segment, your numbers. Cycling is also about the people you ride with. The best rides we know began with a message to a stranger, and a coffee after.

Slovenia is a perfect place for this. It’s small, so riders overlap. The clubs and programs are real and active, and the terrain gives every discipline a place to play. What’s often missing is the link between a rider who wants company and a group that has room. We want to be that link: honest about pace, clear about who a ride is for, and safe for everyone, including women-only and para-cycling riders.

Our advice is simple. Be upfront about your level. Ask questions before you ride. Show up, and ride the next one too.

— Coffeeride

FAQ

Are there free group rides in Slovenia?

Yes. Rajd runs free group rides around Ljubljana from May to October, weather permitting. The KZS Gremo na kolo! program also offers free cycling schools and guided tours. Coffeeride is free to use, so you can join rides posted by other riders at no cost.

How do I find a cycling club near me?

Start with the KZS club directory, which lists clubs across Slovenia by discipline and town. Contact the club by email, ask for a guest ride, and tell them your pace. You can also find clubs and their rides on Coffeeride.

Can beginners join group rides?

Yes. Look for rides labeled beginner or recreational, and ask about the pace and the regroup policy. Community rides with workshops, cycling schools and skills areas are good ways to build confidence before a longer ride.

Are there women-only group rides in Slovenia?

Yes. Authentic Women Cycling organizes monthly weekend rides, and Sisters in the Wild runs guided bikepacking events for women, trans and non-binary riders. On Coffeeride, women-only rides carry a pink badge.

Sources

• Group rides & Workshops, Rajd
• Kolesarski klubi, Kolesarska zveza Slovenije
• Društvo, Kolesarsko društvo Litijski Tempomat
• Amatersko in rekreacijsko kolesarstvo, KZS
• Cilenca Trails, Kolesarski klub Zagorska dolina
• Cycling experiences, Visit Ljubljana
• Of My Way cycling map, Slovenian Tourist Board
• Authentic Women Cycling
• History & Ethos, Sisters in the Wild
• Maraton Franja BTC City, UCI Gran Fondo World Series
• Kose Radenci

Recommended

• Find a Pace Matched Group Ride in Slovenia in Five Minutes
• Mountain Biking Groups in Slovenia: How to Find Your Crew
• Find Paced Family Group Rides in Slovenia, Schools and Events
• Find Pace Matched Women Cycling Groups in Slovenia with Coffeeride