Road Cycling - Legs hitting diaphragm in the drops

Does anyone else experience this?

I usually don't ride in the drops because my body restricts my leg on the top of the pedal stroke.
It feels like a comfortable position, if I take out that problem.

I'm wondering how rare this is.

Does legs hitting my beer gut count?

Either your seat and bars are to low or your crank is to long or both.
The seat to handle bar height may be just fine but if the seat is to low your legs are bent more at any crank position; the fix, raise the seat and the handle bars to match.
If your crank is to long your leg may be positioned correct(very slight knee bend with foot level) at the bottom of the stroke but your leg is to high and bent at the top of the stroke; the fix, a shorter crank. This may be caused by your femur being short relative to overall leg length, and its femur length that determines crank length.
Without seeing and measuring in person I can't say for sure, maybe your just really flexible and have the drops next to your front hub.

Could shallower drops also help?

My crank might be too long.
I remember thinking "how would this feel with a shorter crank" before.
I'll try to read up on this.

I think that my legs are long for my overall height. (my arms as well)

My crank might be too long.
I remember thinking "how would this feel with a shorter crank" before.
I'll try to read up on this.

I think that my legs are long for my overall height. (my arms as well)

Your thighs should not hit your torso when you are in the drops with your shoulders and elbows relaxed and your forearms flat to 15deg and your back is straight. If they do, assuming your saddle height and fore/aft saddle setting is correct, you stem is to low. The difference between a 170 and 175 mm crank arm length is neglegible for this setting. I'd say raise your stem.

The book Serious Cycling by Ed Burke addresses this specific setting.

The difference between a 170 and 175mm crank is 1cm extra height at your knees at the 12:00 position. That is the difference between hitting and missing.
Don't forget that your drops can be positioned anywhere you like, high or low, near or far, its up to you.
Also, drops are not the usual place to ride. Set your hoods to your cruising position and you have an extra-low position for headwinds and decsents.

Ive dropped my bars as i drop the weight. Down to 210, from 241

If I suck my gut in, I won't hit my knees, so I know its now up to me.

>>Also, drops are not the usual place to ride. Set your hoods to your cruising position >>and you have an extra-low position for headwinds and decsents.

What is the advantage of the hoods besides extra hand positions? The drops are more comfortable for me...so does that mean that the handle bars should be lowered to ride on the hoods effectively?

I like the vertical grips of the drops myself.
The first two links are off of the third but there is a lot on the third and I didn't want
these two overlooked.
http://www.bsn.com/Cycling/ergobike.html
http://www.bsn.com/Cycling/articles/kops.html
http://www.bsn.com/Cycling/
There is another good one under the misc ramblings section.

Well I don't know if it is my gut. I'm 5'9"-5'10" and 135-145lbs.
But I do show a little gut at times. Probably from a really bad back curvature.