[MENTION=134410]rumrunn6[/MENTION], I don't have x-rays. I'll ask the podiatrist, especially since I want to bring them to other doctors.

Your primary doctor is dead wrong. I'm rather shocked that he would get that wrong, because it seems easy for even me to understand, but I guess no one can know everything. I'm a (computer) system administrator, and people are surprised that I don't know about ERP software or internet marketing, because those are related to computers, but they are all sub-specialties.

My x-rays look like the bunion x-ray in the page you cited. Looking at my foot, the problem looks to be mild. Yesterday, I did a lot of fast walking while carrying lots of heavy stuff, and in the middle of that, I stood for a couple of hours while singing in a concert. My feet (and the rest of my body) hurt a lot.
[MENTION=407088]Needles[/MENTION], I am trying the toe spacers that go between the big toe and the next one. No opinion yet on whether they are good, bad, or indifferent for me. The podiatrist said they won't help, but I figure trying them for a few weeks can't hurt. The suggestion of toe shoes is intriguing. I don't jog, so I should be good. But with those, I don't think I can wear toe spacers.

If I can't wear those weird toe shoes, I think I better go shoe shopping and replace all of my shoes. I discovered about five years ago that I was buying shoes too small. The foot size measuring machine in the shoe store says I'm a size 11. I started wearing size 12 shoes, and that has been better. Now I think I should probably be buying size 13. My feet's widest points are farther forward than normal feet, even though they aren't unusually wide. That has been my problem all my life.

There is a facebook group called Social Cycling NYC, and I asked the folks there for a sports doctor recommendation for someone who knows cycling. A member whom I know and trust says he works with a podiatrist who knows cycling, so that sounds like a perfect next step. Not only that, he's very close to where I work!