RAGBRAI 12:00 NOON UPDATE: Iowa's new Methodist bishop is riding in RAGBRAI--and stopping at 23 Methodist churches along the way

Iowa United Methodist Church Bishop Laurie Haller (second from right) and the rest of "The Circuit Riders"

Laurie Haller was elected a Bishop of the United Methodist Church last July.  She was then assigned to the Iowa Conference, starting her job on September 1st.

This week Bishop Haller is taking a break away from her office and riding in RAGBRAI.  Her six-person team is called "The Circuit Riders."

She is not just riding a bike from the western border of Iowa to its eastern border, she is stopping at every single Methodist church along the RAGBRAI route--23 in all.  On Friday morning she visited the Decorah Methodist Church.

Bishop Haller says some of the 23 churches are served by part-time ministers and have not been open during RAGBRAI, but many have been open.  On several days of RAGBRAI, she and her group have stayed at the local Methodist parsonage.  Other times she has visited with church members as they have been operating a booth for RAGBRAI.

Bishop Haller says you see churches in a different way when you're riding a bike--you get a chance to visit with the local pastor and church members.  "It gives me a chance to see what's happening on the ground," she tells decorahnews.com.

While this is her first year riding in RAGBRAI, it's not a stretch for her.  She once rode her bike from Brandon, South Dakota to Clinton, Iowa to raise funds and awareness for the Methodist Church's "Imagine No Malaria" campaign.  She has also done the Ironman Triathalon and the Boston Marathon.  She's impressed by the RAGBRAI experience, saying, "We say 'hi' to everybody we meet."