Quote Originally Posted by bcipam
1) wear mountain bike shoes and use MTB pedal if possible (if you don't use a pedal system then ignore this). At the time I rode with Speedplay pedals and after the first long sand crossing was never able to engage the pedal again. I rode 80 miles on top of that small cleat - OUCH!
With either type of Speedplay road cleats (Zeros or Xs) you can "fix" this problem on the road by dripping a generous amount of Tri-Flow lubricant on both sides of the cleats. I carry the little sample tube in my saddle bag for just this reason. Tri-Flow is a solvent in addition to a lube and it will clean that sand and mud and gunk right away so you can clip even if you get all gunked up.