You gotta do what you gotta do to stay on the road. None of us are getting any younger. At 59 years old the only way I could beat somebody with a straight block is if I put it in a tube sock and used it as a club

Edited to add:

I started using the Specailized Hover Expert (alloy) handlebars that have a 15mm rise to them; Drop is 123mm and Reach is 75mm. That puts me 1.5cm ahead of the game in terms of flexibility issues. The drops are comfortable to my hands and the tops are flat as opposed to round. Both of my road bikes have them as will any more I build or buy. Yeah they're black, but once you get the tape on it isn't that bad.