Born in Grafton NSW, the youngest of six children, Kevin rode his bike to and from school. He joined the Grafton Cycling Club and by the age of 13 was training 100km to 150km a week on a regular bike, improved by "bits and pieces from here and there. People used to give me stuff to help me and others gave me lifts as we travelled a lot to compete".

Nichols left home to accept an offer to live at Bankstown with Bob Sandberg and his family so that he could train at the Wiley Park banked track. Among top class riders and with constant competition, he quickly improved and within five months had won two national juvenile championships, in the 500m sprint and the 500m time trial.

pictured above: Kevin Nichols (front) after winning the Team Pursuit - 1978 Commonwealth Games

He continued his schooling and after matriculating went to Sydney University in 1973 to study for an economics degree. But he soon realised that he had to choose between study and cycling, so he dropped out of university to take casual jobs, to concentrate on his junior career and prepare for the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, where he came second with Gary Sutton, Gary Reardon and Murray Hall in the 4000m team pursuit.

After 1974 he only trained on an irregular basis, as he was now working in computers. Nevertheless he won his first open national title in 1975 in the 20km race and came third in the 1000m time trial. In 1976 he was named in the Olympic team for Montreal, in the pursuit team which finished twelfth.

Kevin married in 1977 and his wife Sylvia became the main breadwinner while he pursued his cycling career. At the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games the 4000m team pursuit gold medal went to the Australian team of Nichols, Gary and Shane Sutton and Colin Fitzgerald. The "Official Report" acknowledged the "Australian foursome…was completely and confidently in control from beginning to end. In the final, this foursome steamrolled over New Zealand by a whopping 8.3 seconds". In 1979 Nichols was funded to compete in The Netherlands which paid off at the World Championships where the Australians improved markedly to finish sixth but the following year at the Moscow Olympics the Australians finished a disappointing eleventh.

Nichols came back to Australia and fed up with a lack of return on his efforts, retired and went back to full-time employment. He returned for the 1981 World Championships finishing ninth in the team pursuit and seventeenth in the 50km and retired again. He then made another comeback to race in front of Australian crowds at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.

Nichols was the only "old" member left from the 1978 pursuit team, but the team of Michael Grenda, Michael Turtur, Gary West and Nichols proved as awesome and again comfortably beat New Zealand in the final. Nichols was thrilled at winning back to back gold medals in the team pursuit but even more so by his huge effort in the 10 mile race in which he narrowly defeated his two mates in an exciting close finish. The pacings were Kevin Nichols 19min 56.559sec Gold, Gary Hammond 19min 56.639sec Silver and Michael Turtur 19min 56.660sec Bronze. This is one of the most memorable 10 mile Commonwealth Games races ever, as the three medallists crossed the line virtually together and were only separated by hundredths of a second.

Through 1983 Nichols competed mainly in local road events, but he was eventually talked into another comeback by Ray Godkin and was selected in the Australian team for Los Angeles. But it was not easy street for the seven riders competing for places in the pursuit team. Michael Turtur broke his wrist but kept cycling, Gary West broke his collarbone, Glenn Clarke got ill and only Dean Woods and Nichols stayed healthy. Woods was cycling brilliantly and the team started to come together again.

The Australian team of Michael Grenda, Kevin Nichols, Michael Turtur and Dean Woods surprised everyone and won the gold medal. Nichols was 29 and was affectionately called "Grandpa" by his team-mates.

Kevin Nichols feels that his main attributes are his unusual determination, concentration and great self-discipline. At 1.8m tall and weighing 70kg at his peak, his keen sense of humour also helped through the ups and downs of his cycling career. In his commitment to cycling, Kevin Nichols greatly contributed to the renaissance of cycling in Australia, helping it to return to its place among the best cycling nations in the world.