Questions from an overweight beginner

[missliz]

You know, maybe you need your own cycling life separate from your husbands. You can join more than one club, you can take the beginner rides while he hammers the long routes, you can go on the all girl rides; If you be yourself the cyclist you will get more out of it and sooner than you think you'll be able to ride together on equal terms and you'll have a lot more fun.
Somtimes having your husband/ boyfreind try to teach you stuff can be difficult- They overwhelm you with information. With the best of intentions, but sometimes a more neutral party is better for you. Clubmates who can 'splain stuff are good to have around.
The point is, it sounds like you want to ride, so you should do activities that meet your needs as a beginner. And he needs to respect that. A lot of cycling couples ride together and ride separately. Some days you may just need to toodle around the neighborhood. And some days you should go out with a group- just hang on the back and you'll amaze yourself!
Go to the library or Amazon and look into the work of Covert Bailey. He explains metabolism and how you make the transition from fat to fit in easy to understand language. If you understand some simple biology you'll be able to train to make it up those hills more efficiently. And you need to understand how that body fat gets burned off. Ignore the fancy math, you don't need it.

missliz

95% of climbing a scary hill is knowing how to use those gears. I learned the basics from Mountain Biking magazine. Bicycling Mag is also good for learning stuff. Lots of basic instructions.