Been lurking here for a while and finally encouraged to post up after a bit oaf reading and some motivation. I'm not 100% sure what I need, or even what the right questions to ask are, but I'm reasonably sure you're the people to ask.
I saw this viewtopic.php?f=43&t=54656 thread and thought - That sounds like a challenge. Why not give it a shot?
Main question is how do I go from untrained newbie to racing E class and beyond? There's lots of info in the training section for lots of different areas, but not much of a general how to. I'm thinking time trial might be my thing, but general road racing competitions sound like fun too.
Secondary questions are if my goals are realistic? Is it worth shelling out on a power meter (I like analysing numbers so I'd be more of a case of talking me out of it rather than into it), especially one that measures left/right independently given my situation (see below)? Is it all horribly pointless seeing as I'll be stuck on a MTB for 2/3rds of the time? Is 2-3 hours every evening enough time to get the required amount of training in?
I'm assuming that I ;
1. Contact my local cycling club (Cairns Cycling Club) and join up
2. Get someone who knows what they are doing (Alex@RST for example) to give me some sort of plan to work towards with regards to amount and type of training
3. See a dietician and get some sort of eating plan together (and stick to it!)
4. Ride a whole bunch, have fun and find, push and expand my limits
5. See just how far I can get
I know I'll never be anything to write home about, but having a goal is always better than striking out blindly. C grade would be a nice target to aim for I think and then reassess if I ever manage to achieve it.
Background;
I had an incident ~8-9 years ago that left me paralysed down my left side for a while. Eventually subsided and I got movement back but I now require conscious thought to move my left side (ie walk), but still manage to get around relatively normally though with a loss of power especially on the left leg (rated at a 4/5 on their scale, but it feels like a 2/5 compared to where I was) and a handful of other issues. Eventually found a physio (Ian Wee of PIHC in Perth, awesome dude and very good at what he does) who could help me and he got me into cycling around December 2011 and I really enjoyed it.
I grabbed a Specialized Roubaix with a 105 group set and managed to get from being totally buggered after (slowly) doing 7kms to being mostly buggered after averaging ~27kph over ~35kms with a longest ride of 60km taking ~3 hours. Work got in the way a few months ago and I have plateaued, if not regressed a little. Have changed jobs and now have a bit more time available (but nothing excessive, just means I'm doing 13 hour days instead of 15). Since I'm in Vietnam for 4 weeks out of every 6 (28/14 roster, back to Cairns for the 2 week break), and the roadies skinny tires probably aren't conducive to me surviving the occasional off road adventures into rocks, potholes and deep mud (sometimes all 3 in 1) you are sometimes forced to take, I've grabbed a HT mountain bike (a KTM Toryn 1.0) to let me continue riding while I'm over here.
I'm still a big Fatty McFatFat at ~105kg and 6'0" but it's better than what I was when I started, and being over here is causing me to eat better, so the weight has started slowly coming down though when I get a bit more serious I imagine it will come down a bit quicker. It's been a long time since the first number on the scales hasn't been a 1.
Cadence has slowly been creeping up from 60ish when I started to 80 - 85 average now and max out at ~140 for short periods (not that cadence means much judging from the 10,000 times it's been discussed on here). Pedaling technique (another hotly debated topic around here) is poor at best, but coming along. The max cadence I can manage without bouncing is slowly getting there, but if I'm honest, I resort to mashing the more tired I get.

Max heart rate I've seen while really pushing myself is 195 (to the point of blowing chunks), though most rides it maxes out at around 183-186 when I push hard.
Will be 30 in July (now there's a scary thought!

Vast majority of the time I run out of puff before the legs give out, but sometimes it's the other way around. As you'd imagine, I struggle like you wouldn't believe uphill, but descend like a demon.
TL:DR? Help a crippled fatty get fit, prove a point (or not), have fun and do science at the same time.