Help! Is it me or is it the brakes? and should I get an upgrade of some sort?

[VeloVT]

Regardless of whether or not you have relatively better grip on the brakes in the drops, you definitely **should** be able to brake adequately from the hoods.

It's possibly a reach issue. It also could be a brake cable issue. I have seen brakes get really hard when a bike was put away wet for some time and the cables weren't routed that well to begin with. The lube dried up and the levers felt like one of those hand-strengthening things. Stopping from the hoods was actually sketchy and difficult. We ran new cables with better routing, and lubed them, and the brakes were restored to normal responsiveness (so I could get plenty of brake power from the hoods).

I was going to write this like "I had a friend..." but shoot, I admit it, I put my commuter away wet and left it for a few weeks over Christmas break. I promise not to do it again .

Edit: oh, seeing SK's post... we sandpapered the pads too, they had gotten a bit glazed. And I cleaned my rims with rubbing alcohol. They were grimy, partly with dirt but mostly with what looked like brake pad residue. Riding in wet weather is hard on every part of the bike, best to avoid it when possible. But in my case these repairs solved the problem and my brakes are fine again.

And reading SK's post again... poorly adjusted calipers could definitely make it hard to brake from hoods too. Really either way could make it difficult -- throw too long or throw too short.