The ST4s wouldn't start

Two weeks ago on Sunday morning, I was ready to go on a breakfast ride to Tahoe when the ST4s wouldn't start.
Battery was fully charged, the LCD dash went through its usual process, I could hear the fuel pump whir, no bubbling in the the gas tank, and the starter turned the motor like always, but it wouldn't fire. And I had ridden it over 150 miles just the day before.

Over the next several days I went through the simple stuff, checked the fuses, swapped relays, etc., but no change. Texted with a mechanic friend who suggest pulling the crank position sensor to see if it was fouled. Pulled the sensor, it looked clean. Disconnected the sensor connection plug to check for corrosion, also clean. Put the sensor back in, reconnected the sensor, turned the key, hit the starter, and the bike fired immediately.

As an engineer, this makes no sense to me. However, while taking it on the first test ride yesterday, I did notice that the clock had reset, even though I had never disconnected the battery. My working theory is that something I did caused the bike's computer to reset, though I don't know why. I rode over 250 miles this weekend, made several stops, and the bike started without issue each time. Does anyone have a possible explanation?

Today's longer test ride was one of my frequent breakfast rides to Lake Tahoe, which I think of as the four-pass ride. I cross over Echo Summit, Luther Pass, Carson Pass, and the Carson Spur Pass. Included a side trip down Blue Lakes Rd in Hope Valley off of CA-88, which has some great scenery.

So, for the moment, the ST4s seems to be cured, but I'd really like to know how I fixed it!