Remember the first few hundred miles on your road bike? remember the first time you use clipless pedals? riding on a recumbent is is just the same, you start from zero experience, speed and smootheness comes with practice, lots of it... same with maneuvering through traffic.

How is your cardio capability? if you're not used to spinning the lower gears, start practicing that, too. Climbing on a recumbent could be fast, but you have to develop a whole new set of muscle memory to become fast climber on a recumbent.