Gravel riding is a lot of fun. It basically is road biking but on a rough surface so it demands more out of the bike. For some, they consider it to be like touring. If you want to get out and explore the mountains or trek through the woods, a gravel bike can get you there and a road bike wont. But you can ride the gravel bike on the road as well making it pretty versatile.
That's why we added the Checkpoint to our product line. It is a tough competitor in the gravel market right now. With the sliding dropout that we used on the Stache and the Crockett etc, it lets you readjust depending on the gearing and makes it real easy if you go single-speed (which is a ton of fun).
You also have the elevated chain stay for stiffness and bigger tire clearance (45c and 49c on some), and you have tons of bottle mounting points in addition to the front and rear rack mounts.