Taronga Zoo's General Manager Wildlife Conservation, Will Meikle, with 18 other zoo keepers and managers riding from Sydney to the Gold Coast for Australasia's zoos and aquariums to raise awareness of wildlife in National Threatened Species Week. Catch his regular blogs over coming days: The first-ever Tour de Conserve started at Mooney Mooney bridge at 11am yesterday and climbed Mt White from a cold start! A police escort topped and tailed the group. A hard workout to begin  but everyone of our 19 riders slogged it out! The best speeds of 60km\hour occurred downhill through the hills against  the sounds of Bell Birds to the Australian Reptile Park near Gosford. Here we were treated to behind the scenes viewing of their successful Tasmanian Devil breeding program. Pushing on to Toronto, the peloton had rocks thrown at them at Wyong by several teenage kids without an interest in the event or wildlife apparently! The ride was busy with narrow roads and lots of traffic but the riders all made it through without incident. By Will Meikle More photos and updates at www.facebook.com/TourdeConserve