It's a shame that Speedplays are ruled out because of the sand - I love mine.

I also had Shimano SPD-SLs on another bike and, like your DH, would still be trying to clip in when others had ridden through an intersection. The problem is having to look at them to turn them over the right way - it just never became second nature to me. I changed that bike over to Speedplays too. They are great - don't even have to look at them. But I understand that egg beaters have this same quality.

Are you sure that Speedplays wouldn't work in your area?