Somehow, I think I know your husband!
He sounds like someone I know in Chicago....
But welcome to the forums!
Work on conditioning first- just getting used to riding on the bike and building up some stamina. Once you do that, then it will depend on what your goals are to figure out what kind of training you should be doing.
Use the spin classes for conditioning. Unless you have some great instructors who know about cycling, they're not much use, unfortunately.
Get off the bike path.
Koffee