Jones Space Frame first impressions

So it's been a few years of "saving up for a new bike". The whole process was a lesson in patience. As any parent and home owner will tell you, something always comes up...

But let's skip all that and get to the important stuff:
I received the complete Jones Spaceframe bike in the mail last week. I heard the Fed Ex truck and got up from my slumber only to find a note saying that I wasn't home. WHAT??!!
Anyway, after pointlessly calling and asking if the driver can just come back, I decided that one more day wouldn't kill me. (But it was killing me inside!)
The timing was also not the best cause I had my brother and his wife visiting with us from Austria. There really wasn't an ooportunity to take it out on a real ride. I did manage to assemble it that night, after everyone went ro sleep!

Anyway, a bunch of other stuff happened.. Fast forward...fast forward... Ok ride time.

It was a Thursday afternoon. I skipped my "breakfast" -(Night shift jargon) as I only had about an hour to be back for kid pickup duties.

Bike build can be found here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxSrOEDV1Ox8MXBaOW43U0FYMS1vZ2tpWE9JUnE5WXNpeDk4/edit?usp=docslist_api

To get to the trailhead I start with a series of short but steep road climbs.  These felt hard with the big tire and 32/18 gear, but I think it had to do with the 3 weeks off the bike!
I was distracted by the many hand positions that were suddenly available to me. I wasn't used to having my hands that close to my body when on the widest part of the bars. The narrower sections were OK for the streets. Once I hit the singletrack I could immediately feel the stability of the bike. Even on rocky sections. I could pretty much bomb through. The wide tires felt like they were really hugging the rocks and I didn't once break loose. I had the Surly Knard up front pumped up to 10.5 psi. And the 2.4 Ardent at 16 psi. (I weigh 157 lbs)
The bike comes with a proprietary 135mm wide front hub which is the only size that will fit into the super stiff Jones fork. I've never felt more confident leaning a bike down in fast corners. It really does feel stiffer than even a 20mm through axle. Yet the ride was more comfortable and smoother than any rigid bike had any right to be.

Being only 5'6" presents the challenge that I can't really get the bars level with the seat. This is so different than any bike I've owned. My seat was always a few inches higher than my bars. Contrary to popular thought, this did not hamper the handling of the bike. The only trouble I did experience had more to do with the bars than the bar height. When standing to climb really steep pitches I didn't quite know where to place my hands and I felt I would have had more leverage on a regular 740 mm riser bar. I think with a little more ride time this problem would sort itself out.

I need to ride it a bit more. I'll report back after a few more rides.