Myprotein MP MAX Hurricane Evo protein drink

Cyclists mostly use protein drinks for recovery post ride to enable the muscles to rebuild and repair themselves. MyProtein's offering, MAX Hurricane Evo is more of an all-round muscle builder with its protein to carb ratio of 2:1 (most cycling specific recovery stuff is stacked 2:1 in the carbs favour) intended to be taken whether it's a training day or not.

Primarily aimed at sports like weightlifting and rugby, where large amounts of lean muscle mass are beneficial, the Evo drinks nevertheless show some pretty good benefits for the cyclist.

Your £42.49 gets you 1.8kg of powder which is enough for two to three weeks depending on how many days you train. The plan is to mix three scoops (60g) with 300-400ml of water or skimmed milk, give it a shake and drink it as soon as you wake and then have another as soon as you finish your workout. Non-training days mean just one shake when you wake.

The two flavour options are Chocolate Mint or Velvet Vanilla and only one of those gets my vote, the chocolate is pretty palatable but the vanilla is just plain wrong.

I had eight sachets to play with which is about four days-worth so a plan to test things in a real world kind of approach was hatched. Obviously eight sachets was never going to be enough to notice any real gains in muscle growth or strength but any differences in recovery should be obvious.

For two weeks I put in the same amount of weekly miles. Five days of commuting around 35-40 miles and whatever was required on a Saturday ride to make things up to 200 miles with one day of recovery before starting again. The daily routine is coffee then a fasted ride to the office, breakfast and then lunch at about 1pm. I'd then ride home, quick snack at 6pm then dinner around half eight. By the Thursday ride home the legs are normally starting to get tired with Friday and Saturday a 'just get it done' kind of approach.

Week three and everything is kept the same but with a shake when I get to the office and one when I step through the door in the evening. Things were looking promising by Thursday with very little fatigue in my legs at all whether that be on the bike or climbing stairs. Friday's ride feels much easier and Saturday's is a joy. Once back to normal the following week saw the return to tired legs and while granted its not a hugely scientific test I found the results pretty noticeable.

Overall the benefits were plain to see '' or at least feel '' for me. While more prolonged use could lead to weight gain, for short-term multi-day events I reckon the MAX Hurricane Evo could provide the kind of recovery and reduced muscle soreness that would make long distance riding much more enjoyable.

Taste wise the Mint Chocolate was just like a normal milkshake even with water and it mixed well as long as you use a water bottle or shaker. I didn't really get on with the Vanilla flavour but some might.

Pricing is pretty competitive as SIS' Rego Protein is £48 for the same 30 servings (less overall powder though at 1.2kg) while Zipvit's recovery drink is sixty five quid for 20 servings.

For riders looking to put on some muscle mass for the track or sprinting the Myprotein powder could well be the ideal all round package but certainly in terms of recovery performance the MAX Hurricane Evo powder is very good indeed.

Verdict

Great levels of recovery and performance at a decent price, choose your flavour wisely though.