This is awesome park here in Asheville North Carolina. My wife and kids had a great time here we weren't expecting much when we pulled up I was like man there's 1000 people here they had walking paths everywhere they have basketball courts playgrounds and ice hockey rink type place it's not ice hockey but a roller rink thing where people are playing hockey they had basketball goals everywhere they had all kinds of things the head of memorial for a speedway that people were just riding their bikes and rollerskating and everything around this was an awesome awesome place that I wish we had here in Louisville read more

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Excellent park for many toddler-friendly activities. The playground is huge and has varying levels for all ages. My 18-month old loved the swings, wooden plane and slides. I really appreciated the extra long stroller-friendly trails. Many of the paths were paved but even the dirt paths worked well with our stroller. The views of the river and nature were lovely. Lot's of parking with easy in-and-out spots. You do have to take the ramp by the parking lot across the path to get to the interior playground. It's a bit of a longer trip but overall not cumbersome. read more

Our family enjoyed skating at the Carrier Park Velodrome in Asheville. Super cool to have a nicely maintained beautiful area for residents and visiting guests. Having the tracks was awesome then throw in the fact there are paths all around the area to enjoy as well. Highly recommend! read more

I always enjoy visiting this park, there is so much to do. We usually just walk around and take the greenway to do a loop around French Broad River Park. read more

Excellent park for all ages. I have never been here when you can't find parking (unless the parking lot was flooded in which case, best to just go home). The track is great for cycling but honestly the whole park is- and it connects to many greenways. People are very aware of cyclists and cyclists are very aware of people- they share the space well. This park leads to a put in spot at the river which is nice. You can also park there. It also goes through a few greenways and leads to other parks so this is a kind of "choose your length/challenge experience". It is always clean and has great events in the summer. Easy meet up space. Oh and the bathrooms are actually decent- a rarity for a public park. What a win. read more

This review is for Carrier Park as a whole, not just the Velodrome. I love, love, love Carrier Park. It is a good sized park that follows along the French Broad River and has a variety of beautiful scenic spots, sports venues, a dog park, and places to put in your tube/canoe on the river. It is a great place to go alone to run, bike, take a nap, paint, swing, walk, or just people watch and is equally as great of a place to go with friends/family to play volleyball, kickball, bike polo, ride bikes, tube down the river, and play with the dogs. There are grills and picnic tables for a little grill out, there are plenty of places to bring a blanket and read a book, benches to watch the river, and paved trails to get some exercise. One of my favorite places in Asheville. A great spot for a free date with your sweetheart, some good family time or to seek solo meditation. Wonderful. read more

Carrier Park Velodrome - Bike polo on the hockey rink - Parks Near Me - Asheville, North Carolina

My go to for cardio since it's nearby, flat and spacious. The entire route is about 6 miles but you can extend it to 8 miles if you go through all the paths. It extends pass the RV's onto another long path near the water. read more

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Clean park and safe area for kids locally. Great scenery too for anyone just looking to take a small walk around.

Was looking for something to do with the kids for a little time between hitting up some cool donut shops in the morning and waiting for the breweries to open around lunchtime. Just used Google Maps to find the nearest park and it led us here. I mean, a whole playground/basketball court and tons of other stuff INSIDE a velodrome? AWESOME. There are some pretty cool reviews of the place here that I can't hope to compete with. The playground was HUGE; a summer camp even showed up and yet there was enough room for my 3 & 1 year olds to keep playing. Bathrooms, shade, playground, velodrome. What else do you need? read more

The Mellowdrome is a very cool ex-NASCAR short track (you heard it right!) that is now a slightly-banked velodrome, right near downtown Asheville. Allegedly Dale Sr., Richard Petty, and other greats of stock-car racing used to battle it out on this half-mile sorta-circle (hard to tell from ground level, but looks ovalesque). Now instead of unmuffled V8s and Busch light, there's a unpretentious bike racing scene, featuring some fast dudes on some interesting "hardware" (bamboo, mmm?) and custom Lynskey titanium, for example. Racing is a few trivial bucks and happens every thursday eve. I rented a bike at Hearn's in Asheville and had a great time racing with the locals. Didn't beat 'em and didn't get blown out either, which is fine by me. Check it out! mellowdrome.com read more

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Carrier park has a lot to see and do, but if you are coming here expecting the high sloped walls of a traditional velodrome you are going to be very disappointed. The affectionately named Mellowdrome used to be a car track, thus it is designed to accommodate stock cars and not the much more nimble bicycle. That being said the vibe here is far less pretentious than most tracks, people of all skill levels are free to ride and it is not uncommon to see a 5 year old with training wheels out on the track. There are frequent races which is fun as a spectator, but you will never see the totally bizarre sport that is one on one sprints (the slowest, then fastest sport), the track is just not sloped enough. Still, it's a lovely place to bring the family, or the dog, or a family of dogs. read more

Very cool park! I don't go to parks much, but this is great. Lots of variety with a great biking area! We went to watch a softball game and was impressed. Several ball fields for various sports, biking area, walking area and plenty of parking. I've never seen a park with a Velodrome before and was impressed. Lots of bikes there the day we went. read more

This is a great place to go running. It's a little over a mile if you use the outside loop that goes by the river. Be sure to check out the schedule for the bike races that happen, they are fun to watch. read more

I'm dating a trackster but I'm not into racing myself. This means I spend copious amounts of time at the track... watching. Waiting. Hooting and hollering. It's all fun and games but nothing sucks more than when you do so at a barren track with other "lady friends." I'm usually the loudest and that's a lonely place to be. This is not the case at Asheville's velodrome. The Mellodrome is by far and away the most fun track to be a spectator. People love watching bike races in this town (former home of the Tour DuPont). You can tell because this track is so fan-friendly. There's a pedestrian bridge over the track so you can cross comfortably at all times and take great pictures off of. The MC's are hilarious and get the crowd involved. They are especially tickled with out-of-towners. Expect lots of shout-outs if your not a Southerner (which is rare in the South). This is a kid-friendly environment with a playground and lots of room to run around. The track also has a fantastic training program for kids. I've never seen so many kids 8-15 on fixies. The Mellowdrome is a cultural experience in Asheville that must not be missed! read more

This park is amazing and has everything. The playground is fantastic, and their is space or a court for every other sport imaginable. The bathrooms are open again and are clean. Lots of spots with shade too. read more

Im rating this as a park and not the velodrome only. It is a great park. I'd like more soccer fields but a great playground for my boy. Walking paths near the river and this cool bike velodrome on what is a historic NASCAR track. That is pretty freakin cool, huh? read more

My daughter, Ronni, had been asking to go to a playground for some time. I thought she was over playgrounds as she is aging, so this request threatened my sanity. Then I realized that it would allow me to regain some sanity, as I could let her loose upon people of her stature, and be free of her. In the end, I almost lost more sanity than I gained. Parking is competitive. One time we had to park way out in the boondocks (a small dirt parking lot), and had to walk quite a distance to get to the park. There are several parking lots outside of the park proper; they are easy to find. Be careful in the parking lots. Kids on bikes do dart into them. Hide your stuff, lock the doors, and get movin'! There is volleyball, roller hockey, basketball, playing fields, twelve grills and tons of picnic tables. The lawn bowling is always deserted. The bathrooms were just renovated. Trails are broad and easy to navigate. Some are paved. If you walk on the grass, look down so you do not step in poop. Ronni almost did almost immediately after we got to the park. It is considerably cleaner than other parks as far as poop goes. I just get tired of being a poop spotter, because I would rather look at birds and bees. We take the back path to the playground. To gain access, you have to sorta squeeze through concrete barriers/highway dividers. (If you have a stroller, you might want to use the front path.) Cross the bike track, and you are there. On our latest visit, I sat down to enjoy the sun and air. My husband laughed, as I had sat down almost right next to a huge pile of poop. Dogs are not allowed in this section of the park. Try telling that to people who are narcissistic. The track is really cool. It used to be used for horse races but is now used for bike races. It is going to be upgraded this year (2017). You can run, bike, and skate on it. Part of it is banked, so any activity done on this track gives you the feeling of exhilaration and triumph. "Yeah, I almost won...uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh!" Combine that sassy chant with some body movements, and no one can bring you down. Well, except the dad who usurped my place in line for the tire swing. As soon as the tire swing was free, we approached it, only to have two other brats do so as well. One gave up, but the other got on, bleating for his mom. We waited. Another parentless, female child approached while the bleater was still on it; she got on and he got off to go back to his shepherd. Since there is no protocol for dealing with child butters, I can do nothing. I cannot put my kid on with them, as I do not have the parents' permission to push kids that are unknown to me on tire swings. It seems heartless, but lawsuits ain't my thang. So what happens? As Ronni, another father with his daughter, and I patiently wait, the usurper dad announces to his daughter that "her friend", the aforementioned waif, was on the tire swing, and that they should go down and join her. Yes, go down- as he was on the huge wooden play structure, surveying the lay of the land and waiting to wreak havoc on others. Is that even allowed?! Do you know how excruciating it is to wait for a line-jumper to descend with his brat and a sudden interest in the right person being somewhere at the right time so that they can monopolize the tire swing?! He took his sweet time, too- almost four sessions before one of the kids softly stated enough. I swear that the other dad waiting with me threw a rock in their general direction. The whole thing was weird. Then, on top of all that, guess what? Three other kids came up and got the swing before me. But they were sweet- they asked if Ronni wanted to get on, and I gave them permission to push her. That made me happy. I could feel the usurper staring at me, which made my cheeks burn with fury, but I refused the challenge and decided to carry on. As we were leaving, we saw a woman with fifties-style clothing nudging her overgrown chihuahua. My husband had mentioned her to me because he heard her companion say to her that dogs were not allowed in the playground area. She had demurred his comment, and was still in the area with her dog. I also noticed another dog possibly wearing a hat under a tree. I thought about stated rules and unstated rules, and thought that as a rule, I would still enjoy the outdoors- dog poop, rude people, and all. read more

Fun place to play, even without the bikes. Would've loved to ride the track or cruise down along the river. Playground was appropriate for 7 and under. Really clean and safe. Park was busy when we visited (78 and sunny in February!!) but ample parking and remarkably friendly vibe from everyone we met. read more

Carrier Park Velodrome - Parks Near Me - Asheville, North Carolina

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This park has all of the things! Bathrooms, playground, boats in the summer, plenty of trails and access to the river. We were looking to let the kid blow off some steam in our recent vacation. He loved it. We loved it. Lots of kids, lots of space, and a beautiful view of the mountains. We will definitely return when we're back in Asheville! read more

Asheville has a ton of nice outdoor areas, but this multi-use park truly has something for everyone. My little guy was drawn to the giant wooden castle playground like a moth to a flame, while my mother enjoyed walking the path by the water and I got a kick out of the cyclists on the race track. We walked into the park the first time, and we were confused about the location of the playground. It's behind the velodrome, which has its own parking area. The footprint of the park is huge, with a different parking area in front of the open field and picnic area -- so if you're looking for the playground, use the other parking area! read more

This is hands down the craziest, coolest, multi-purpose park I've ever been to! There's beach volleyball, a playground that is designed like a medieval castle, a small roller hockey rink, a large basketball court, soccer field, baseball field, lawn bowling, a bicycle track (where I heard they have weekly bike races), a huge open field, picnic benches, and probably other stuff I can't remember because it's so freaking awesome!! Plus, it's right next to the French Broad River and I saw a little place where I think you can rent boats when the weather warms up. This park is INSANE. Only con, I recently picked up the one sport they don't have a court for... tennis! Although, it's possible there's one but I was too distracted to see it. read more