I drink coffee every day. No doubt caffein lifts me up. What’s weird though is that when I have a little too much I get sleepy! Just trying to say if you think it helps elevate your riding (mentally or physically) and you are able to stay in zones longer etc…then you’ll get more physiological benefit/adaptation. They say caffein is legal doping.
It has it’s limitations. If you can’t definitely determine the caffein is THE thing that elevates your riding then don’t worry about it. For the record, I don’t think for caffein does anything to help hold XXX watts or hang onto a group up a climb etc…I think it get’s me going in the am. But it’s pretty low on the list of things that I would associate as the reason I ride stronger/better. For example, bad sleep and a lot of coffee usually equals bad performance. Good sleep no coffee usually equals great performance.