Ryan Rosenhahn has raised the handlebar for guys trying to impress their girlfriends.

He’s risking his butt straddling a jackhammer on wheels for 51 days and 3,328 miles.

It’s a case of an incurable romantic taking on an incurable disease.

His sweetie, Laura Kurica, has diabetes, so he’s biking across America to raise $100,000 toward a cure.

Ryan, 24, spent a year organizing the “Connect for the CURE” ride in her honor.

“It’s kind of weird, but it’s kind of cool,” says Laura, 22. “It makes me feel special.”

Ryan is joined by two cyclists and a support vehicle driver. All have family members with diabetes.

On June 6, the group dipped their back tires into the Pacific Ocean by Santa Monica Pier to begin the journey.

Their goal, many mountain passes, deserts and calluses later, is New York City.

En route, they’re hosting events and ride-alongs.

ETA for rolling into Colorado Springs is June 24. You can bike with the trio to Denver on June 27 for a $100 donation to the American Diabetes Association.

Ryan is a recent graduate of California’s Azusa Pacific University, where Laura studies nursing.

Growing up in Colorado Springs, he was best friends with her older brother. Ryan and Laura became a couple in high school.

“I always had a little crush on him,” she says.

Ryan was determined to someday to do something for diabetes after watching what it did to Laura.

“One time at her house, her mom had to revive her by forcing icing into her mouth,” he says. “Her blood sugar dropped real low.

“She was slipping into a diabetic seizure. Her eyes rolled and she was shaking.”

Laura, a type 1 diabetic, wears an insulin pump. She checks her blood sugar level and counts carbs. Even with monitoring, there have been other close calls. Last year, her roommate found her unconscious.

“It’s every part of your life,” says Ryan. “Everything from what you wear to how you live and what you eat.”

But it doesn’t hold Laura back. She’s a summer camp counselor. She plans to run a half-marathon in the fall.

Her teen years were hard. Wearing the insulin pump to the pool. Getting asked: “What’s that?” Explaining that her disease, known as juvenile diabetes, wasn’t something she’d outgrow.

With age, it will worsen, unless Ryan’s ride helps lead to a cure.

“Later on I could have my feet amputated. Blindness. Kidney disease,” she says.Her dad, Ken, a surgeon,  had to retire early from doing surgery due to his own diabetes.

Laura plans to be at the finish line to meet Ryan in The Big Apple on July 28.

Hmmm . . . I wonder where this ride ultimately will end for this couple?

—For more information:connectforthecure.net

Ryan Rosenhahn and Laura Kurica Photo by

Ryan Rosenhahn and Connect for the CURE cyclists Photo by Courtesy photo

Andrea Brown, Your Space Columnist Photo by