Well, I've had my Vision R-55 (swb uss recumbent) for a week and a half now and had I not fallen out of the attic onto my cement garage floor on Monday (breaking my jaw but otherwise left with just scrapes and bruises) I'd be commuting into work this week on it. All things considered I got off easy considering the fall!

Anyways I have a few questions for those of you who commute via recumbent.

1. Seat pad - mine is foam. I will have to park my bike outside so if it rains I presume I'm in for a water-soaked seat pad. What do you guys do? Cover the seat while parked (with something water-repelling)? Cover or coat the foam pad? Ride without the pad?

2. Are there any safety concerns that I should keep at the front of my mind? I've commuted into work three years on a DF bike and am comfortable with it, but moving from DF to recumbent is there anything I should keep in mind?

Finally, one touring question

3. Can anyone recommend some good articles/blogs/etc. on recumbent commuting? I've found a couple via Google. What I'm really interested in is discovering how people stash stuff on their recumbent. It seems to me having a recumbent frame that is essentially a long pole, there should be some interesting ways to stash things under the frame, like a duffel bag or tent, etc. I have some ideas but I'd like to see working implementations.

Thanks!

Philip