hyalite. real men ride from town. but it's a ways back the canyon to the best stuff, but I haven't lived there in so long. get in touch with the cycling team it was a really good crew when I was there, find a kid named gerrit or something Meng, he should be on the cycling team, he's in his first year of med school as a wami student. I'm sure he still rides, but most assuredly check out the cycling team, great group of folks.
Was there such thing as the Thursday night cruiser ride when you lived here?
I believe so, we had many weekly functions. I was in and out of the club due to working a full time job, I made it when I could but most of my friends were on the team. we had a surplus of tandem cruisers...
what kind of riding do you want to do? Stop in at the Owenhouse bike shop and talk to the guys there, they can get you going on some of the local trails. Not much in the way of true DH if that is what you are interested in.
Helena has a great trail system around the town. You can ride from your house if you live on the south side and be in on national forest in 20 min. Some places.