Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

If you are using modern equipment and have the tops of your hoods pretty much even with your ramps and the brake levers approximately vertical, your bars and levers are probably arranged as they were designed to be. I find that ergo bars make it easier to reach my levers than do round hooks. I normally ride either tops, hoods, or on the ergo portion of the drops. I never ride on the straight part of the bars which extends aft of the ergo section. When going hard, I'm more likely to be on the hoods with a lot of elbow bend than to be in the drops. When I sprint out of the saddle or descend at speed, my back is flat, my hands deep in the drops with a couple fingers on the levers. That's what modern components are designed to do.

In old photos you see racers spending much of their time in the drops. When I was 17, 54 years ago, that's what I did too. For one thing, the hoods in those days were torture devices and not meant to be used the way they are today. For another, back in the day bar tops were approximately even with the saddle. Now bar tops are usually inches below the saddle and hoods position is about the same as drops position was back in the day. Back in the day, the drops aft of the hoods was usually level. Today that portion of the bars points approximately at the rear axle of a single, or where that would be on a tandem.

Photos: Lovely Bicycle!: Drop Bar Hand Positions: an Introduction
I prefer the hoods mounted a tiny bit lower than shown so that the brake levers are vertical. This would make them easier to reach. The photos also do not show what I call the "low hoods position" with the elbows well bent, the thumb on top of the hoods, and the wrists resting on the ramps.