RIDE AND CREATE | Isabel Del Real

‘Seeing new landscapes is a real source of inspiration.’

Isabel Del Real is a long-distance cyclist, illustrator and author. Born in San Francisco and growing up on the coast of Brittany, she spent most of her childhood outdoors and reading books. A curious creature with natural wanderlust, she decided to take some time out post-university to travel.

This quickly blossomed into a year-long bike-packing adventure from France to Iran, where she rediscovered her love for exploration and storytelling. A friend of Café du Cycliste, she visited Nice recently to talk about her passion for long distance cycling and how it powers her artistry.

Already hooked into hiking and with an obsession for the mountains and ancient maps, Isabel Del Real dreamt of a big trek east through all the highest points in Europe and into Asia. She started with a high Pyrenean hike, and loved it, but realised that it was going to take three years to get all the way on foot. She discovered that the way to carry herself and her gear was by bicycle. Building her bike with friends out of various spare parts and a Surly Ogre frame, she also sewed together her own panniers, ready for a serious bike-packing adventure. Isabel decided she wanted to travel to Tehran from her hometown Plouër sur Rance in northwest France. And it was this adventure that led to the 26-year-old documenting her travels through illustration.

Having loved drawing when she was younger, sketching and colouring all the time, but never studying it, she found on her bike trips that she had the peace and solitude to reignite her love for illustration. Overcoming the fear of the blank sheet and the need for perfection, she made lines she liked and began to feel good when putting pencil and ink to paper. During her trip to Tehran she drew more and more; gaining confidence in herself and her form.

One of the results of this voyage is a graphic novel she has recently published called Plouheran (a contraction of Plouër and Tehran). Now, on every journey, she retransmits in drawing the emotions she feels on her bike: loneliness, encounters, nights in bivouacs, friendships. The eternal act of ‘looking to the end of the road’. Isabel’s creativity is very much a product of riding her bicycle. She pulls a fresh copy of Plouheran out of a box and looks it over, saying:

‘You have so much freedom physically and mentally when you ride a bike, the body is busy but the mind can think. It brings peace, and it is this serenity of mind that will allow you to be creative. It develops the imagination to have large landscapes in front of you, mountains that make you dream, you can project all your thoughts on them.’ During her trip from Brittany to Tehran she found it gave her the opportunity and inspiration to draw. As she pores over different landscapes and details, Isabel continues:

‘When you travel long term, you need moments of pause, sometimes there is no internet, no books to read… We have time to occupy, which is an immense luxury. The mind is really linked to the pedals, for example there are very frustrating things that we somehow exorcise when we climb, and things linked to freedom and happiness when we descend. It’s a vehicle for reflection and we can find a real organization of creativity on the bike.’

We ask the obvious question about how this kind of travelling and exploration influences her creative work, and how it manifests itself on paper.

‘The two are really linked but in fact they are conducted in different environments…
When you do comics and cycling, you are brought between two phases, the outdoor phase, when you're on the bike finding inspiration and looking for stories to tell.
But at some point, you have to sit down and create the comic strip; which is extremely demanding. You lock yourself in your studio and draw and take your time.’

Isabel’s process for creating her stories obviously begins with sketches but also photos and notes on the phone, plus that old fashioned thing called human memory.

‘When you're not looking at the photos and your notes, the question to ask is, “what do you remember?” Memory is a screenshot in your head. Sometimes the mind distorts a little but it's a memory so it's a strong image. For my graphic novel Plouheran, I used what I remembered the most. I now travel to find stories. Afterwards, you have to work to shape these stories into something more than just experiences... There are so many joyful memories you take from cycling. Every day I was happy on my bike. You are in nature, so you see beautiful things. You exercise, you feel good. Like riding in the Euphrates Gorge, a magnificent gravel road, with friends I’d met along the way, it was one of the most magical moments and in the evening you make your bivouac. Pure adventure.’

Those magical moments are the driving force for Isabel, she does not consider herself as a pure cyclist, but really an ‘outsider’. But it’s clear that as soon as she reaches another new destination, she makes herself right at home with conviviality and enthusiasm for whatever and whoever she sees and meets.

‘I wanted to go somewhere, and the bike was a way of getting there. Today, I have a hyper-rational love of cycling. It’s the best form of transportation in the city or anywhere. Cycling isn’t just a sport – it’s a means of travel, of escape. I didn't think I would call myself a cyclist but now I think that from the moment we ride a bike, it doesn't matter what we are, we are cyclists. Everyone has their own way of cycling.’

Café du Cycliste first teamed up with Isabel in 2021, supplying her with some essential kit (including her trusted Alizée which she takes ‘everywhere’) on her trip from Brittany to Tehran. Isabel’s first time in Nice was memorable for those same reasons that so many keep returning; the mountains, the sea, and the culture.

‘Nice has inspired me to draw. The city is that of the sportsperson but also that of the traveller. The tiled roofs, greenery, and boats. The colours, the churches... and the socca. The atmosphere of the city feels very Italian. It's a beautiful, relaxing city and feels like an endless summer vacation.’

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