6th gen hot/cold hard start issues

I have a 2003 with about 72,000 miles on it. I commute daily about 32 miles each way. Just recently I have encountered an intermitent hard start issue.

At first it would take a few seconds longer then normal, and it wouldn't do it every day. The engine would crank over, just wouldn't fire right away (sometimes). Once running, there have been really no other issues. It hasn't had any power loss or any other running issues.

Last night leaving work, it just would fire at all. I did so many 4-5 second bursts of the starter that my fully charged battery lost it's charge. It took my three laps of my parkinglot to bump start it. It does not seem to matter if the bike is hot or cold either. If I shut the bike off after riding it and try to start it I still get a hard start.

I think I can rule out fuel as this has happened over several different fuel tanks. The spark plugs are about a year old, and when I pulled the last set out with about 45K on them they looked fine. I'm pretty sure it isn't spark plugs.

What else could it be. I would think if i have a fuel pressure regulator going out I would have other running issues once it started. Any idea? I have 8 hours before I need to get it started again to get home.

How old is the battery? Sometimes older batteries will have enough juice to turn the motor over but not enough to create sufficient spark.

Battery is older, but holds up fine under a loaded voltage test.  That and I keep it on a tender frequently.  I'm positive it isn't a battery issue.  If it was simply a battery issue, bump starting it would only take one attempt.  (I know I've had to do it before).  This took me many many attempts.  Once I got it running it runs fine.  Which confuses me.  If it has enough spark/fuel to run and accelerate fine and has no running issues.  I would think that with this kind of hard start it would be fuel or spark, but I would also expect those problems to carry over into how it runs.