Coheed, Cambria, Competition, and Cheaters

As I mentioned on Friday, I spent the evening in Kansis City, Missouri at a Coheed and Cambria concert. In what turned out to be a pleasant surprise, the concert started with an acoustic set, transitioned to The Second Stage Turbine Blade album, and finished with a mixture of old and new songs. Not only is Coheed a great band, they put on an amazing show. The video I posted Friday was one of the earliest concerts Coheed performed; here is the same song (Delirium Trigger) from Friday night at the Midland Theater:



The other event I mentioned on Friday was the Queen of the Classics: Paris-Roubaix (pronounced Paris-Roubaix). Pre-race favorites Fabian Cancellara and Thor Hushovd were marked all day (in truth, Hushovd marked Cancellara all day, until Spartacus had enough) and weren't able to get away. Another pre-race favorite, Tom Boonen, had a handful of mechanical issues and an eventual crash that forced him to abandon. With all the attention focused on the big names, Garmin-Cervelo's Johan Van Summeren raced away from the break for a solo victory:

Of course the real big news of the day wasn't the spectacular classics win for Mr. Van Summeren, but the blatant disregard for the rules and laws that separate human beings from wild animals. What I'm speaking of specifically is this:

Do you see it? If not look at this one:

If you read BSNYC's blog, you'll know that the bike lane topic is a hot one in NYC. Apparently the anger with which the bike lanes are being met does not carry over into Europe. I could overlook Van Summeren's law breaking if it wasn't for the other riders who are law-abiding citizens:

It's difficult to tell with the quality of that picture, both those riders following the rules are the pre-race favorites Cancellara and Hushovd. I'm not one to start a conspiracy, but after looking at this photographic evidence I am beginning to understand how a rider who had won two races in his career prior to this win beat one of the best classics riders of the bunch and the current world champion. Then, to add insult to injury, Van Summeren takes excessive liberties with one of the podium girls:

In all fairness, that woman he is molesting is his fiancée (who prior to the race was simply his girlfriend).

What have we learned today? Breaking rules levels the playing field. Also that no matter how many rules other bands break they can't compete with Coheed and Cambria.