Corterra Eco Reserve

The Philippines isn’t lacking for great outdoor destinations, and mountain bike parks aren’t an exception. There are a lot of amazing, do-it-all tracks and trails, from the friendly ones to the downright gnarly hills — making these destinations a great place for anyone who want to progress their skillset, either getting faster or getting used to jumps and drops.

Corterra sits comfortably in the middle of the spectrum, flowy and fun with enough challenging features in and between to push any rider, regardless of skill level. Plus, the place is just mega magical.

A FULL DAY OF MOUNTAIN BIKING

This place is definitely for the complete mountain biker, or at the very least, you have to have your endurance at better-than-average levels. The entire park is a loop, yes it’s a full loop that you’ll ride your bike on — downhill, uphill, and around, and no, there are no lift or pull services…as the park crew likes it. Hatch Bodegon, who builds and maintains the park with the Corterra team explains, “you need those skills to get stronger, bike longer, going up is all part of it too.” Trust us, it’s worth it, plus you feel really, really good and accomplished after everything and the park has reasonably-priced drinks at the ready in the outhouse.

The entire park, from where you start to the actual trails to where you end, feels like a well-planned-thought-out machine, and it is. Cashless registration, spacious (so important now) resting areas, and amazing areas for exploration or, say it with me, “iiiiinstagraaaaam.”

FOLLOW ALL THE RULES

Corterra is setup in such a way that riding the park takes care of not only you, the rider, but the park and their team as well. Before you even ride, registering and paying online (through GCash) is a must, and quite honestly, that’s how it should be. It takes a lot to run and maintain a great place like this and the fee goes a long way into making sure we all get to keep riding it. So before we break down the steps below, if you’d like to ride the wonderful world of CER, click THIS LINK.

As soon as you’re done registering, you’ll get an email confirming your registration, along with details on how to pay. Settle that and you’re all set, it’s about an hour-plus drive from the city, so make sure you’ve got your maps, music, and munchies all set. Also, an important thing to note is that cellphone signal is spotty in most parts of the park, which to be honest, is even better. Save the posts for after, let’s start!

• VERIFY ON SITE
  As soon as you get there, head to the outhouse at the top of the hill and verify your reservation through the QR code sent to you. You’ll then be asked to sign in by the very friendly and safety-conscious team there. This is also where you can get water, gatorade, and other drinks.
• GET YOUR BAND ON
  After verification, you’ll be given a colored band which you will have to wear at all times inside the park. This allows the team, and fellow riders, to quickly and safely identify each other within the property, ala music festival (we miss those).
• HIT THE TRAILS
  Now you’re ready for a shreddie! IF this is your first time in Corterra, or haven’t been here in a while, it’d be best to walk the first parts of the track first, you’ll encounter multiple features here — drops, jumps, a root and rock garden, all which you’ll enjoy more if you know what you’re getting into.

Here’s a quick video from @ChesnutBikes to give you an idea:

CORTERRA IS A GEM

All in all, CER is such an amazing place to enjoy mountain biking. Speaking with Hatch (pictured here with resident park overlord “Yorme”) before we rode, he mentioned that the park might be a little less “gnarly” than what we’re used to, but simply put, it wasn’t. It’s a perfect mix of flow, tech, and climbing, definitely an awesome Enduro ride that lasts as long as you can. Hatch also adds that, “we plan to build more features in the park- not just for bikers, but for campers and hikers as well. A restaurant and a camping site is going up soon (lockdowns-permitting) and eventually, we want to be a one-stop-shop for outdoor and nature enthusiasts.”

Some tips: park outside, the road to CER is actually a great trail to get you all warmed up for the day and most cars won’t be able to make that drive, unless you’re on a 4×4. Pace yourselves, there will be a challenging climb after all the downhill and we highly recommend to stop and rest, take in the entire spot at the end of the run. We asked one of the team members there and yes, you CAN kayak there, so that’s definitely something to try next time. And lastly, like everywhere else, be considerate and follow the rules, we are able to ride these places because of the kindness and generosity of the people behind it.