Women's Sportswear

One licra for the gym, another for the saddle:

the cut tells you what a piece was made for. Full-length leggings run to the ankle or stops at 7/8, and a high waistband that stays put through squats is what separates a good one from a cheap one. A licra de ciclismo looks much the same from a distance, but it has a foam pad, the badana, sewn into the seat, and it is worn on the bike and nowhere else. Sports bras are chosen by support level as much as by size: light for yoga, high for running and jumping work. Trainers have their own page in women’s sneakers, and anti-UV surf leggings and rash guards sit with swimwear.

The badana and the long climbs of La Ruta:

mountain biking is taken seriously in a country that La Ruta de los Conquistadores crosses from the Pacific to the Caribbean in three days of racing, and the women who train for it spend hours in the saddle. Over that distance the pad decides everything. A women’s badana is wider at the back, where the sit bones rest, and shorter at the front, so a men’s short handed on by a partner rarely fits. Bib shorts stay put on a long climb but turn every toilet stop into a performance, which is why many women ride a waist short instead. On the trails plenty wear a baggy short over a padded liner, so check whether the liner is included.

Yoga licras for Nosara and Santa Teresa:

a yoga class wants the opposite of a ride. On the Nicoya Peninsula, where Nosara and Santa Teresa grew up around surf breaks and yoga studios, the licra that works has a high waist, no seam down the front and fabric dense enough to stay opaque when you fold forward, worn with a light-support bra that does not ride up in an inversion. A runner needs the reverse: a high-support bra with a band that grips.

Nike licras against the sports-store house brands:

a running licra from Nike or adidas costs around ₡40,000 to ₡45,000 new, while the house brands of the big sports stores sit between ₡10,000 and ₡20,000. That second figure is the one a used branded licra has to beat. Nobody can see how many washes the elastane has taken until the piece is on, so a pre-owned Nike licra is a good buy at about the price of a new house-brand one and a poor one at much more.

Tired elastane, a stretched bra band and a flat badana:

elastane, the fibre that gives activewear its grip, is damaged by dryer heat and pool chlorine long before the colour fades. Pull a licra over your knee in front of a window and look for skin showing through, a shine on the seat or pilling on the inner thigh. On a sports bra the band does most of the work: if it gives easily and stays long when stretched, the support has gone, however good the cups look. Press the badana on a cycling short; foam that stays flat or edges peeling from the fabric mean the pad is finished. Nike garments carry a style code on the inner tag, and searching it shows whether the colour and cut match the photos, the quickest way past a copy.

Before a rider drives over from Escazú for a padded short:

give the size on the tag, the brand and model, and say plainly whether the piece has been in a dryer. Photograph the fabric stretched against daylight and the inner tag. For a bra, say how often it was worn; for a licra de ciclismo, show the badana from the inside and say it has been washed. A lot of good kit comes from women who trained hard for one race or one yoga teacher training and then stopped, and a matching set in one size is worth the trip. Whoever comes to collect will stretch the seat against the light and press the pad before paying, and a piece that has clearly been washed and air-dried tells them more than any description.