I tried aquabike for a few seasons and it was a mixed bag. Due to back problems I haven't run in 20 years, so I never did entire tri's, just relays and aquabike. The fields even at "big" events like Eagleman was always a very mixed bag; small fields and weird start times (e.g. dead last wave) and honestly it often felt like an after thought. Ended up usually feeling like a second class citizen. Then they decided to eliminate aquabike and relay from Eagleman anyway, which would have been my "A" race if I did aquabike. So the last couple of years I switched over to just bike racing (TTs and some road races) and personally enjoy it more. I do miss the swimming though. I really enjoy swimming with masters but don't tend to go without the motivation of a race on the calendar.