Forces Acting on Cycling: Explaining Maximum Speed

[roxas]

if a person pedals as fast as he can on a bike, and stops accelerating, and his speeds reaches maximum value. how do i explain it in terms of forces acting. can someone please provide me wth a model answer thx. ( by the way i know he reaches terminal velocity, but i don't know how to explain it in forces)

 

[roxas]

can i say the force exterted equals the frictional force, and so she reaches a constant velocity? i noe i am liek retarded: anyway please help me asap=(

 

[rsk]

Yes that's basically it, except friction here includes the air resistance. Resistive forces get bigger as the speed increases and eventually reach the point where they balance the pedalling force, so no further acceleration