Every Thanksgiving, David Hunger would hang up his bike. By that time, winter conditions had arrived in Jackson, and the roads were covered in snow and ice. Hunger, the owner of Teton Mountain Bike Tours, tried studded snow tires on his mountain bike. The tires worked okay, but they weren’t the perfect solution for the ever-changing conditions of winter biking.

“Dirt is dirt. Pavement is pavement,” he says. “It may get wet, it may get muddy. But whether it’s 50 degrees or 80 degrees, it doesn’t change much. Snow is a totally different medium. It’s constantly changing. If it’s 0 degrees or if it’s 30 degrees, it’s a totally different ride.”

“Once I bought a fat bike and realized where I could ride it, it was a game changer,” he says.

Hunger rode his bike on snow-covered roads and up the wide corridor of Cache Creek, having a blast.

After a year of fat biking, he realized he had to share his new passion with customers and clients and added fat bike rentals and tours to his business.

Hunger wasn’t always a passionate cyclist. He didn’t become one until he moved to Jackson in 1990. He grew up in upstate New York, but spent a few summers at Teton Valley Ranch Camp. He moved to Laramie, Wyoming, for a job before ultimately moving to Jackson.

He had worked for wilderness education programs and knew he wanted a job that allowed him to be outside, but without the massive time commitment of expeditions. So he and his wife, Teresa, started Teton Mountain Bike Tours. “Pretty much since then I’ve always ridden a bike,” he says.

Today Teton Mountain Bike Tours has about 100 bikes and offers a variety of summer and winter biking tours in Grand Teton National Park and
the Bridger-Teton National Forest, as well as rentals for people who want to explore on their own.

When he’s not busy guiding, Hunger is volunteering to build trails on the national forest or riding trails himself. He also loves spending time with his children.

His son Caleb, 22, started riding Cache Creek on a trailer bike with Hunger when he was just 4 years old. When he was 8, he graduated to riding the trail Sink or Swim, and by 12, when he passed his first aid training, he was ready to help his dad guide tours.

Hunger’s daughter, Amber, 19, isn’t a bike fanatic. She rides horses. But it’s fine with Hunger because her horse is a rare one that isn’t frightened by bikes. So they can ride together, she on his horse and he, as always, on his bike.