Seven Serpents Quick Bite

Quick Bite is the shorter, smoother sibling of Seven Serpents: a self-supported ride from the Slovenian capital to the Italian seaport of Trieste. There is a clock and a results table, but the organisers pitch it as a season opener and a first step into bikepacking, on mostly flowing gravel with very little pushing. The unsupported rules still apply: no drafting, no private support, only the shops, cafés and campsites along the way, and leave no trace.

The line strings together storied corners of the northern Adriatic. Riders pass Bistra Monastery and Predjama Castle, built into the mouth of a cave in a cliff, then drop to Lake Cerknica, Europe's largest intermittent lake, before crossing into Croatia and over the long bridge onto the island of Krk. Two ferries follow, to Cres, where griffon vultures circle the northern cliffs, and on to the Istrian coast, then the route climbs through Učka Nature Park and the tiny hilltop village of Hum before rolling down towards Trieste. Ferry timetables can reshape the race, and the 2027 edition adds new and remixed sections.

The series is the work of Bruno Ferraro, an ultra-distance racer with the Transcontinental, Badlands and TransIberica behind him, who started Seven Serpents in 2021 because he felt the off-road scene needed fresh, demanding events. Riders' accounts on bikepacking.com describe an organiser who shows up along the route to cheer the field, and a sense of being part of something bigger than a race.