Sunday 4 March 2012

The Weekend Edition: Oil and the art of trading

I got a bit of grief today about what my plans were from the coming week. Well other than exercise and reading I've got to be honest and say I am not going near a trading account at the moment. 


Oil .... mmmm???? OK, so here we are WTI $110 etc. I kind of think this is more like '91 than '08. In '91 we were coming out of a recession and lurching towards the first Gulf war. In '08 we were sitting on a crest of a bubble driven by rampant demand even in the face of an economic disaster unfolding in equities. Remember what happened in '91 as soon as we saw saw shooting? Sell. Here's my fav instrument ... UOIL, also known as the VelocityShares 3X Long Brent Crude. This thing is a beast. If you can short it when the bombs start to fall you will be a brave and rich investor.


Here's Saturday and Sunday's Rides. Saturday was a fruitless attempt to find my way to the Cat 1 Saleve climb. Essentially I picked the wrong day as the roads were choked with the familiar "74" type French license plates all in a mad rush to do their weekly shopping. I wish I had an accurate count of the number of French parents trying to restrain children and talk on cell phones while driving, but alas I was too busy ducking and diving to keep track. Sunday was a far more sedate affair. I decide to forsake the joys of Cat 1 and do a reverse climb to Ballaison. I've never done it this way and I must say I was surprised how easy it was. Clearly this was a great lesson in alternative routes for "col-climbing" this season.


The reverse Ballaison



One last thing. I got my new Garmin heart rate monitor . . . which happens to be the old or classic version with the hard plastic front sensors. 


It worked brilliantly. I now no longer look down and see a heart rate of 240 bpm when climbing a significant hill! 

Thats better - but was I trying hard enough .... mmm????




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