West Seattleite Steve Saxlund is a frequent bike rider (not to mention motorcycles and other vehicles) but last year when he saw an odd looking van drive past him near his home he didn't think much about it.

That is until a friend of his contacted him from Spain and said he had found him on Google. Not in a text search but in Google's Street View, the massive visual index compiled by the search giant.

Saxlund's picture shows him casually riding his Electra Beach Cruiser on SW Stevens near his home.

Of course the Street View cameras have captured plenty of strange things as they roam the streets, and now even the trails of the world. A story from the United Kingdom's Daily Mail from Aug. 30 compiles some of more remarkable images.

This wikipedia entry explains how Google's Street View technology works.

Saxlund said, "What are the chances of being in the right place at the right time? That's the thing that's so crazy about it. i do remember that van going by and looking at it. They have the have that gyro like thing on top."

Saxlund's Spanish friend who visited a couple of years ago, "must have put my address in to remember what it was like being there and he sees this picture and he knew it was me."

When he saw it, at first he doubted it. "I thought," said Saxlund," maybe he had a photo and put me in it with Photoshop. Then I thought, 'the picture is from up in the air, where would he have gotten it? Then I remembered the van with the dome on top and I knew it was real."