VALLEY CITY - Barnes County prosecutor Robin Huseby draws stares when she rides by farmers or other county residents on her bike, often about 30 miles from home. They wonder what she's doing way out there.

The answer is staying healthy, Huseby says.

For nearly three years, she's been bicycling up to 90 miles a week, to try keep her rheumatoid arthritis in remission. She bikes once on the weekdays and twice on the weekends. Each 30-mile ride takes two hours.

This week, she plans to join a bike run to raise money for multiple sclerosis research.

After Huseby developed arthritis, she decided to take matters into her own hands and find a way to get it under control. Bicycling, along with a shot she gets from her doctor, has put the arthritis into remission, she says.

"I make it a priority," she said. "It's as much a part of my life as work."

Huseby said her arthritis condition is one of the reasons she got involved with the Multiple Sclerosis Society and a 150-mile bike run that raises money for MS research. MS and arthritis both affect a person's joints and ability to function every day, she said.

Huseby builds her endurance by keeping up her weekly bike riding routine. She has biked as far as 75 miles in one day, and according to her bike odometer, she's biked 1,500 miles since June 2004.

She said she uses a road bike because it has thinner tires, more gears, and is suited to pavement. It did take some getting used to, though. She said she crashed in town twice.

Her husband, Mark Johnson, joins her when he gets time off from farming. They took their bikes on vacation, and have biked various trails.

This year's MS bike tour will start Saturday in Casselton and run through Sibley, and down to Valley City. On Sunday, the riders will make their way to the towns of Kathryn, Nome, and back to Casselton. Huseby raised $500 in pledges last year.