Cycle Course: 180km

October 20, 2011
Departing T1, the EPIC Dartmouth cycle course heads north out of Dartmouth, following the chain of lakes that forms the start of the historic Shubenacadie Canal: Lake Banook, Lake Micmac, and Lake Charles.
Next comes the community of Waverly with a rolling section along Lake William, then Lake Thomas.  Followed by the community of Fall River with Fletcher’s Lake, and one of Nova Scotia’s largest lakes, Shubenacadie Grand Lake, where the cycle route turns east.
Crossing over Highway 102, the course takes a right onto Oldham Road, and soon after, the only notable climb on the course. Starting about kilometer 36, and with a maximum slope of 9.5%, you’ll climb from 14M to the high point on the course of 162 M over the next 10 kilometers.
Depending which runways are in use, you may see a selection of aircraft approaching and departing from Halifax International Airport, before you turn left on Old Guysborough Road, past the Airline Golf Club, and a then relatively straight section that will take you past Dollar Lake Provincial Park.
Soon after you pass Milnes and Tully Lakes on your left, you’ll be turning right onto the 357 South at Elderbank, past Elderbank Provincial Park, and following the beautiful Musquodoboit River south, through the community of Meagher’s Grant towards the Halfway Point, and the cycle turn-around, near Caribou Lake just north of Musquodoboit Harbour.

Elevation Chart

 

Google Maps Bird’s-Eye View

Google Maps new 3D bird’s-eye view feature will allow you to check out the EPIC Dartmouth cycle course as if flying by helicopter.
Open the following link in your browser:  https://g.co/maps/tasn3
Then, click on the ‘3D’ play button located in the left column beside the title “Driving directions to Nowlan St, Dartmouth, NS”
The map will switch to Earth view and automatically start flying you along the EPIC Dartmouth cycle route.
(You will need the Google Earth plug-in for this function to work, and will be prompted to install it if it is not already loaded on your system.)
The course is automatically followed, although you can pause it anywhere in the 3D display and drag the map around to explore the surrounding area or landmarks.
At any time you can get a closer view of specific areas of the course by first clicking on the ‘2D’ button in the left panel, and then you can drop down into Google Street View to see full detail of any section on the course (the entire course has been mapped by the cameras of Google Street View)