Eileen Sheridan dominated women’s cycling in Britain during the decade after World War II. She is considered one of the best cyclists, male or female, that the country has ever produced.

At 4 feet 11 inches tall, Eileen Sheridan was known as the Mighty Atom, and like her namesake she caught the attention of a country trying to make sense of the war and its aftermath. It was the golden age of cycling, when millions of British people took every chance to pedal beyond their bombed-out cities to the peaceful countryside, and many looked to Eileen Sheridan for inspiration.

She was single-minded and physically gifted, but she seemed driven less by competitive ambition than by the sheer joy of the ride. Her earliest athletic love was swimming, but that changed after her father bought her a bicycle when she was 14.

“I was one of those people who, if I was in an event, even if I was tiny, I had to do my hardest,” she said in an interview.

Eileen Sheridan joined the Coventry Cycling Club in 1944. She broke the club record for the 25-mile time trial in her first competition, finishing in just an hour, 13 minutes and 34 seconds. Two years later she broke her own record, coming in at an hour, 7 minutes and 35 seconds.

She is best remembered for her epic ride in July 1954 from Land’s End, at England’s southwestern tip, to John O’Groats, at the northern edge of Scotland — an 870-mile trek that she completed in just 2 days, 11 hours and 7 minutes, almost 12 hours faster than the previous record.

When Eileen Sheridan decided to go pro in 1951, she signed a three-year contract with Hercules, a bicycle manufacturer, even though it meant she would be forever barred from racing. Hercules wanted her to tackle as many records as she could, using its bicycles, and she made quick work of the task.

She retired after the contract ended, though she occasionally joined promotional or charity races. She spent the rest of her time supporting women’s cycling as a spokeswoman.

Eileen Sheridan, a cycling athlete with tremendous speed and endurance will always be an inspiration as she is forever “In Heaven with the Stars.”