Off-season riding for weight loss

I have pretty much finished all the events I care about this year (three double centuries and a gran fondo).

I did fine but really need to lose 10-15 pounds to take it to the next level.

Given my job/family commitments I had about 6 hours a week to train (and many weeks with little to no training) so high intensity was the order of the day, which does not curb my appetite at all.

So, other than cutting down on my wine consumption, I am hoping to ride more and more consistently (I live in a pretty warm climate although it was 37F yesterday morning).

The easiest thing to do from home is ride a 12 mile loop that climbs about 1600 feet (there is a 3.3 mile, 7.3% climb) and I have done that 4x in the past two days (but at L4 -- old habits die hard). Am I right that longer tempo/SST rides would be more helpful?

Yeah, probably. Look up high intensity interval training, if you're not familiar. I hear that's great for burning off fat.

Before you go trying to lose 10-15 lbs though, I feel compelled to ask if you have 10-15 lbs to lose. I ask because I don't know many cyclists who do, and if they do, most of the weight coming off would be muscle.

As far as losing weight, it's all about eating fewer calories than you expend. The usual advice is to try for around a 500 calorie/day deficit, which translates to about a pound a week. With that as a guide, you can plan to lose a pound per week in such a way that you'll be at the weight you want to be when you want to be there.

With that in mind, you might actually consider eating at a calorie surplus for a while during the off-season to give your body what it needs to recover from the training you'll be doing. Then you can start to eat at a calorie deficit again later on in the off-season. Instead of spending the next three months moving down to a weight I don't think you'll find much use for in mid-January.

He does

Any way of sneaking in an extra hour here and there?

But really, just need to moderate the intake and perhaps try to choose when you eat. Smaller portions, frequently.

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15lbs...
... I wish.

Double Dead Guy Ale. So right... yet so wrong. LOL Taken in small portions every minute or so...

Well, I'm just saying that without knowing where a guy is at, the statement "I need to lose 10 to 15 lbs to take my cycling to the next level" could either be true, or it could be based on an unhealthy perception of weight. If a 140 lb guy at 14% bodyfat loses 15 lbs of fat, he only had 19.6 lbs to begin with, right? So he's down to 4.6 lbs, and suddenly his bodyfat is below 3.5%, which is unhealthily low iirc.

Understood (and thanks).

My problem (other than 90+ hour work weeks, two small kids and a fondness for red wine when stressed) has honestly been that I have been getting away with riding doubles overweight and on 6 training hours a week (on a good week).

For example, I came in fifth in the California Tripe Crown Stage Race (though quite a ways back in terms of time):
2009 California Triple Crown Winners Sorted by Stage Race Winners
I would have lost more weight this season if I had to DNF a ride or two ...

So, I am trying to motivate myself by thinking how much my watts/kg can improve just by getting down to a good weight -- and the ribbing from Alex is good for me in that regard.

I'm a strong advocate of the L1/L2 rides as these will/should not send your appetite into overdrive afterwards.
I'm speaking on my own experience, so YMMV.
The L3+ work, because it uses more stored glycogen (relative to L1/L2) that my muscles will intensely want to restore, sends my appetite into hyperactivity
potentially inducing overeating. Again, YMMV.
You can do the higher intensity stuff with greater immediate effect, but you better have a strong will in order to overcome the cravings after the workouts.

Tony, my experience has been exactly the same as yours. When dieting, have found it's easier to control the appetite for high-glycemic carbs if intense efforts are avoided. Keeping the blood sugar levels in low-to-moderate range consistently promotes fat-burning, and that's very tricky when we're running down the glycogen storage with high-intensity exercise. Again, just my theory/experience, as you said, YMMV.