Another thing about speed is, not all recumbents ARE faster than road bikes. There's this tendency to treat all recumbents as if they were the same, and they're just not. If you want a fast one, it'll need to be light, stiff, and aero. The biggest factors in aerodynamics are to recline the seat and keep the feet in front of the rider, not below. Your feet will be in your field of view. Stiff and light are somewhat mutually-exclusive. I think the boom is where you need to pay special attention to stiffness, since it's usually not triangulated. My Baron has a 60mm main tube, and still I can feel the power NOT getting to the road when I pour it on.