When Matt Robinson inched his snowboard into the starting gate of what would be the final race of his short life, he'd just perfected the mother of all handshakes.
It was February 12 in La Molina, Spain. The last session of the IPC World Cup final was under way.
The day before, the 28-year-old para-snowboarder from Melbourne had secured the world No.1 ranking in his upper-limb class to secure Australia's first IPC World Cup title.
But as he readied for his next descent in the Pyrenees, more pertinent matters were at hand.
Throughout the tour Robinson had been choreographing a special handshake with 14-year-old Ben Tudhope, Australia's youngest-ever Paralympic team member.
The routine was practised methodically over dinners and in ski lodges throughout Europe, Canada and the US.
But the extra touches were always added behind the starting gates as the pair waited to compete.
"It started with just a back-hand slap, then a hip wiggle and a slap on the back," snowboard teammate Trent Milton told AAP.
"This matured to a dance that went on for 30 seconds or more.
"Just before his last run he and Ben put in a couple of extra moves.
"That's the last memory I have before he actually got in the gate and went."
In the next few minutes everything would change.
Robinson would catch an edge of his snowboard landing the course's last jump and fall heavily on his shoulders and head.
The nature of his impairment meant he couldn't use his arms to help protect himself from the impact and he sustained serious neck and spinal injuries.
Robinson died nine days later, from a cardiac arrest midway through an air ambulance flight back to Australia.
His fiancee Gecel was by his side.
His parents Stephen and Carol Ann were on a separate flight home from Barcelona, where they had rushed to visit him.
They would learn their son hadn't made it home when they landed in Melbourne.
The international Paralympic community went into mourning for an immensely popular and world-class athlete.
Robinson's Australian teammates grieved for the punk rock skater whose irreverent sense of humour made him their friend, and whose encouragement helped mould them into Paralympians.
They credit Robinson as the catalyst for getting the country's para-snowboarding program off the ground, and the key to acquiring crucial funding support from the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) so they could compete in the discipline's debut in Sochi.
"He was the first person in the first camp three years ago," said coach Peter Higgins.
"He was the only one to stick with it and really get on board and begin the whole thing with me."
When news came that para-snowboard cross would be included in the Sochi Paralympics, winter head coach Steve Graham met with Robinson to check out the operation.
He was impressed, and secured funding so they could source other athletes and start training.
"That was the day the program was born," said Higgins.
"I wasn't even there because I had had a knee operation. Matty got it going for us."
Not long after it was announced Robinson's disability class wouldn't be included at Sochi - only competitors with lower-limb impairments could qualify.
It was a setback, but he continued to train for the team with the long-term goal of contesting the 2018 Games in South Korea once the categories were further developed.
Milton joined the squad during rehabilitation, after his lower right leg was severed in a traumatic road crash in 2011.
The 41-year-old's right thigh had also been smashed up and both his arms badly damaged.
For the former semi-professional boarder, disabled sport represented a chance to redevelop his old relationship with his body.
"Matt helped me with my demons that came with my disability," Milton said.
"He was born with his condition and he has grown with it."
"He had a troubled youth, and there were numerous avenues he explored to try and hide.
"He hid through his humour, through being the life and fun of the party."
"But he, like myself, found so many connections with other disabled people.
"He was more grounded within himself after accepting the disability side of his life through snowboarding."
Robinson went on to volunteer at disabled training camps with close friend and coach Randall Joseph and his wife Kat.
He also become a qualified guide for Disabled Winter Sports in Victoria.
But even as he matured, the jokester remained.
"He was a really cheeky person, and he would always make you smile," Tudhope said of his mentor.
The average training day was punctuated by politically incorrect one-liners, sometimes with a little song thrown in.
"They're all too inappropriate to tell," said the squad's sole female, 19-year-old Joany Badenhorst.
There's both laughter and tears as Badenhorst recalls how Robinson supported her as she learnt to snowboard, never accepted excuses and could make her see the light side of a gruelling session.
"He made everything fun. Even if it wasn't for him, he found our silver linings for us," she said.
"I used to get really frustrated because I would do my start gate pull wrong constantly.
"Then all of a sudden I'd hear him singing a very inappropriate song.
"Now every time I'm in the start gate all I can hear is him singing this song."
Communication within the team was open and easy, she says, partly because of Robinson's close friendship with Higgins.
"He was Pete's right-hand man in this program, so he knew the right buttons to push."
Higgins admits there's truth to that.
"I love everything about him," he said. "His punk rock lifestyle, but also how he conforms as well - he's a punk rock skater who works for Melbourne council.
"But everything he's always done has been deliberately offensive and against the grain.
Robinson's infectious nature quickly rendered him popular on the international circuit.
He would buy rival American snowboarder Marc Dervaes beers when the former world No.1 beat him, which was often.
This season Robinson got one up in him. Dervaes did the proper thing.
When the accident happened, Dervaes was at the finish line. He didn't leave Robinson until until he was loaded onto a helicopter.
"That was pretty powerful to see," said Higgins.
"Everybody on the tour is such good friends with Matt, he's been the best ambassador for our team and for our sport.
"In many ways he had to do it all on his own. He made a lot of inroads for us before we even hit the circuit."
And just as Robinson built the group's foundations, they will lay down the final touches in Sochi.
"We are doing this for ourselves, our country, our team, all of those reasons." said Milton.
"But we will do it mostly for Matt."
He was their captain, both in nickname and title.
They rode for him then. And they will ride for him now.
