Yes riding with the Iowa rando club will would be nice. I have yet to commit, I'm tight for time so I've kicked around buying a trainer to stay in shape. Doing a whole series seems like it would be tough, like a 1200.
I've been using my treadmill alot, and constantly talking about weight lifting. My longest rides have been 150 miles, I can do a century at 7 hours, and for back to back days. Just thinking of 200 miles seems tough with these tires. Not that they're bad, they're nice. I just wonder if I'll see a speed increase going to 32s. The gravel I'd have to use would be very rideable, but I would ride it slower then my 40s. Thing is I'd only have 25ish miles of gravel total, with each segment no longer then 8 miles and they're a few hours apart. I'm afraid I'd miss the volume of the 40, but they don't just cruise along and saving weight off the wheelset seems tempting.