I think I figured out what a lot of my problems were on hitting these jumps, I had my handlebars rotated way too far back and I'm guessing lost a lot of leverage over the front end. I was having a hard time getting the front to pop off kickers, no matter how hard I tried to preload it just seemed to eat it up even more and leave me no speed till the rear hit and tries to send you OTB...
Rotating them forward moved me forwards a good bit and I'm able to manipulate the front much easier. I can pretty reliably clear the jump between the trees in the last photo
I went and rode some real trails today and had a blast, part of the ride was maybe a 500-800 meter 20% grade to "earn the decent" and this thing eats it up so we did it twice! It climbs better than the 2013 stumpy elite on the same hill, and I seemed to be having an easier time than my buddy on the SJ6F with the 9-46 ethirteen cassette. I forgot to use the dual position front shock the first time up and really didn't notice much of a difference the second time, kind of wishing I got a solo air now since they've got more easy upgrades. Maybe I just need to find steeper hills!
Spent some time working on some jumps in the afternoon too, with shovels and bikes both...
My buddy jumping the stumpy, then my bike after the sun pretty much gave up. He slipped off the brake levers and almost ate a tree, I moved them in quite a bit to work them with one finger
I need to get a MTB friendly gopro setup!