I like to watch a lot of bike rally videos. What amazes me is how may riders show up to ride, and dont appear to have one single thing with them. I see bare bikes with no spare tube or tools. Why is this. Are they depending on others like me that carry a lot of tubes, patches, and tools?

We all need a hobby.

What do you mean by "bike rally"? Is that an organized ride, like a century? Or is it an event where a band plays and cheerleaders go "Gimme a B! Gimme an I! Gimme a K! Gimme an E! What's that spell? What's that spell? Go Bikes!!!"

Ok-----------make that most any kind of organized bike rally, ride, or what ever you want to call it.

Okay, well I don't know about century rides and the like, but I can talk about races. In a criterium, I never carry anything more than a small bottle. I take off my saddlebag and pump. There will be a wheel pit near start-finish. If you flat or have a mechanical issue, you can get to the pit and swap wheels or fix your mechanical issue and then get back in the race, provided the free lap rule is still in effect. In the bigger races, there may be neutral support, which means that a mechanic will be there to support any racer who needs it, including loaning a wheel. In most races, you just stick your spare wheelset there and do it yourself.

In road races, there may or may not be a wheel truck or van following the pack. If so, I'll do the same as in a crit: no pump, no saddlebag, just a bottle or two. If not, I'll carry a can of Vittoria Pit Stop as well (usually good enough to fix a flatted tubular, at least enough to ride back to the start even if I can't catch the pack)

I've never done a century ride, but I understand that the bigger ones might have SAG wagons, so I can see not carrying extra stuff in that case. But if there was no SAG, I'd ride it just like a solo ride and carry a saddlebag and pump.

No way to fix a flat is nuts, but besides that I've never had a catastrophic failure that requires tools (besides tire spoons). Plus the distances I ride I could make the call of shame, though it might be an hour or more out by car.