Exactly right. One trick I used last year was to go on long rides and then consciously choose to either fast, or just eat what I would have eaten had I not ridden. Creates an instant caloric deficit. This seems much easier to do when the weather is hot.

Also, I believe that riding a lot in hot weather can drop pounds all by itself, through some unknown mechanism, which may have something to with the body sensing that it's no longer the dead of winter, food is likely to be plentiful during sunny weather, so it's safe to jettison some extra weight that might be needed during the cold months when food can often become very scarce. Calorie requirements needed to fuel and heat the body on long hunting trips into the wilderness that are required to find more food during freezing weather are significantly higher, so it makes evolutionary sense for the body to conserve fat during those months to ward off potential starvation.