I have had similar experiences and Nuun or Endurolyte tablets made all the difference in the world. I don't like artificial sweeteners, which unfortunately they have, but they work so well that I just accept it. But there is something else that does really well that doesn't have artificial anything-- V8! It has more sodium & potassium than Gatorade, but no added sugars-- if you get the original. The low sodium has sugar-- but you don't want the low sodium anyway. I don't remember if the spicy one has sugar. Probably!

The only thing V8 doesn't have is magnesium and I have found that magnesium during the bike ride prevents charley horses at night. I think you can get magnesium separately, I don't know. I haven't tried that yet, I just use V8 and Nuun. The other downside to V8 is it's heavy compared to a pack of Nuun tablets.