When the weather's bad, you can mess with CRRCsim. It's free, though you will need a cable to connect your transmitter to the computer. I suspect it's possible to make a fairly accurate computer model of one of those rocket gliders to use in it, though if you were comfortable with a DLG in the simulator, that would probably translate pretty well. The UMX Radian is a nice little model, but it doesn't have the same kind of momentum. A friend has put a rocket motor in a fairly normal RC glider. It's overweight, but it still outperforms many RC rocket gliders. If you like, I can see if he's willing to give you some advice.
The following presumes that you want to catch thermals, not just have the model land near you.
I think it would probably be easier to fly something that turns with the rudder, rather than ailerons. You might have to convert one to rocket power, though*. These days, there are a bunch of model kits for F3-RES. An outfit called Hyperflight carries some of them. They only have rudder, elevator, and spoilers. They are also 2 meters, which is easier to fly, but only weigh maybe 15 ounces! The wide speed range of the airfoils would help your model go up faster, and the light weight would help it come down slower. You'd want to pick something that had flutter resistant features, like full depth spars with caps as opposed to those egregious tubes, d-tube wing sheeting for torsional rigidity, and a sufficiently stiff tail boom. I'm assuming that there is some long burning motor available that won't make the model go too fast on the way up. 100 mph?? (warning: now diverging away from kits) Probably the most flutter resistant design in this category is the Allegro Light, which I think may have started the trend. It flies very nicely, though the stall is a bit sharper than is ideal for a beginner's model. If well built, they are incredibly strong. Against air and winch loads, anyway.
https://charlesriverrc.org/articles/on-line-plans/mark-drela-designs/allegro-lite-2m/
If you were really into composites, I'd recommend the original Allegro, too.
If that's too big or challenging, a Terminator with a stiffer tailboom might be good:
https://charlesriverrc.org/articles/on-line-plans/terminatorhlg/
Just remember that it REALLY needs a stiffer tailboom. I could throw one hard enough for it to pitch down, and I'm not great at throwing. If you ran across a kit for a Top Flite Wristocrat, that would probably be comparable. Larry Jolly's Flinger was also comparable, I think, and a kit at one time.
https://plans.modelaircraft.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/MB9842MB1.pdf
You probably COULD find a Dynaflite Skeeter kit, but for rocket launching you'd need to modify the wing for torsional stiffness. Plus I suspect it flies significantly better with the tip extensions I've put on mine.
Estes used to have something called the Sweet V, but I don't know anything about it except one review by a guy who doesn't fly gliders much, and didn't say how much it weighed.
There are a bunch of small kit cutters out there, and some of them probably have something suitable.
Just remember that bigger tends to be easier to fly.
If you were already a good flyer, you could probably handle Mark Drela's Apogee, which is actually very simple. That sanding trick works.
https://charlesriverrc.org/articles/on-line-plans/mark-drela-designs/apogee-hlg/
I doubt any remain on the market, but there was a very similar kit called the Apogee Sport:
https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=15061
I would guess that the J&H Evo Fire would be a decent performer in the hands of someone with skills. And it's meant for launching with a rocket motor.