Mark, I've got about 170 hours TT as well. The last two years, most of the hours were aeros on the R2160 - it now feels as if I'm strapping the aircraft on, instead of sitting in it. And I'm lucky to have a competition aeros pilot as my mentor - he sort of guided me into competition aerobatics and I've never looked back, yet.
I'm at the level where I can fly all the allowed figures for both the Dutch and the UK "standard/sportsman" level safely and accurately, and in a reasonable sequence. Last weekend we started on some of the German "sportsman" figures - there are some real bitches in there which are just barely doable in a non-inverted-fuel aircraft.
At the same time, I'm at the level where I'm confident taking passengers up for a bit of LAROSA - Loops And Rolls On Sunday Afternoon.
My next step, somewhere in the next few years, should be a machine capable of doing intermediate aeros without breaking the bank. Unfortunately these are generally not for rent, so it'll be a group share or outright ownership. That's a commitment I'm not ready to make yet.