Originally Posted by
ofajen
If you ride comfortably on bar tops, ramps and hoods, it would make little sense to change things just because you don’t use the drops. After all, that might require a lot of changes in bars, stems, cables and shifters, and largely without benefit. And you may develop gradual increases in flexibility and strength from riding that mean the drops will eventually get used.
Otto
This is a great point. I used to cut way down on riding during winter and the first month or so of starting up again in Spring, the drops felt far, far away, and even the hoods didn't feel right. But that goes away over time, so that by late summer I'm riding hoods and drops comfortably. Last winter I was able to keep going (largely riding indoors on Zwift) so I really didn't have a layoff, and I've found that I can now tolerate even more drop.