Hey guys, it's Friday! Happy Friday. It's been exactly a week (and a few hours) since we launched our Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 in 29 days to fund Bike Index. We've already raised $9,048 with the help of 73 backers. Thanks, backers! We love you all, and we can't wait to send you some awesome bike swag to thank you for your support.

It's hard to believe that we only have 21 days to go, but we're not slowing down anytime soon. If you've already backed The Bike Index, thank you, but don't stop there! Tell your friends! Tell your friends' friends! Friends of family! Random bikers you see outside the bar tonight or tomorrow night! We really need as much word of mouth as we can get to make this thing succeed. And if you haven't backed The Index yet, what are you waiting for? Have you checked out our list of everything we'll be sending out to our supporters? Shirts! Vegan cookies! Lifetime free bike registrations! And that's not all, folks: check out the full list of pledge prizes on The Bike Index Kickstarter page.

Meanwhile, we're getting pumped for the weekend. Tomorrow we'll be hanging out with friends at the first-ever Andersonville City Made Fest. If you're in the area, come by, get your bike registered, and hang out!

And Sunday kicks off this year's Car Free Week in the Chicago area. The Active Transportation Alliance and the Regional Transportation Authority sponsor Car Free Week, and the theme is "Don't Sit In Traffic – Join The Movement!" That's a pretty convincing theme if you ask us. You can log your car-free trips on Drive Less Live More to win sweet prizes in exchange for keeping track of the miles you bike, run, walk, jog, dance, whatever! This week.

So pledge to donate to our Kickstarter this week, if you can, or at least pledge to ditch your car for a few days in support of Car Free Week 2013! If you do both, you're 100% guaranteed to win some sort of prize. Can't beat those odds.