'Earth spaceman' in bike marathon

A long trip ahead for the man from Kazakhstan

A Kazakh man has set out to cycle from Moscow to Rome to mark the 10th anniversary of the closure of Kazakhstan's Semipalatinsk nuclear test range.

Tugelbek Kasymov, 56, a member of the Nevada-Semey International Anti-Nuclear Movement, is planning to finish the 5,000-km ride in 25 days.

I can be described as Kazakhstan's earth cosmonaut

He is being sponsored by an Italian construction firm, the Kazakh Khabar TV channel reported.

Maths teacher

It said Kasymov was "an ordinary teacher of mathematics" and father of six children from the village of Zhambyl in East Kazakhstan Region.

His cycle odyssey via five European countries is both to mark the 10th anniversary of the closure of Semipalatinsk and the jubilee of the country's independence.

Kazakh TV's latest media star

"When a man is 56, he can't go far away from his home and his country. We have two [Kazakh] cosmonauts who flew into space. I can be described as Kazakhstan's earth cosmonaut. I have to justify my people's confidence," Kasymov said on the TV.

It said the "earth cosmonaut" would have to cover the route "in conditions of the wild summer heat which has been driving residents of European Russia mad for the last two weeks".

Pushkin off

The Italian building firm sponsoring the ride has provided him with a cellphone so he can keep in contact with Khabar TV.

A man needs a sponsor

The TV said Kasymov started his trip with a Pushkin poem, then set off on his trip from Russia's zero kilometre point. It said there was a circle in which tourists drop coins for luck.

"On behalf of Khabar agency, we also dropped some Kazakh tenge [Kazakh currency]. Good luck to you on your trip, uncle Tugelbek!," the TV added.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.