The guys at Germany’s biggest BMX magazine, freedombmx, love a good head-to-head competition as much as they love an afternoon at the track, so when German street pro Bruno Hoffman and Italian Shadow and Subruso rider Simone Barraco happened to be in town on the same day, they couldn’t resist suggesting an impromptu round of ‘Game of B.I.K.E.’ Fortunately for us, the two riders were up for a challenge, and the wide expanses of paving, triple steps and handrails of Cologne’s Media Park provided the perfect arena.

Learning the rules of the game is simple, winning is anything but. Basically both players attempt the same tricks in turn. If a rider fails at a trick which his opponent subsequently lands successfully, the second rider wins a letter. The first rider to win enough letters to spell out the word ‘Bike’ wins. At this level, though, this is a lot tougher than it sounds, because if one of these guys can’t quite pull off a move, it’s bound to be very tricky indeed. It also makes for fantastic viewing, because the better and more difficult the trick, the more chance there is of the opposing rider dropping a point.

OK, so maybe the rules aren’t so straightforward. But street BMX is the purest form of the sport, after all, so if there’s an opportunity watch a couple of guys of this calibre killing it as much as they are in this video, who cares if you don’t really understand who’s winning and who isn’t?