I stepped in some gum a few weeks ago and got some nice gooey gum stuck in my cleats and pedals. I really wanted to punch the chewer of that piece of gum in the face pretty badly. The gum came off pretty easily when my bike/shoes were no longer in the hot baking sun. Someone beat me to the CO2 idea. If you really need it off, just blast a few shots from your CO2 inflator and it will come off very easily.