I ought to have held them up on the upgrade.

The engine was puffing on an upgrade; the car creaked and leaned in taking a curve.

CHAPTER XII THE FIRST DAY Mile after mile of the rough trail fell behind him, and still the pony shambled along at a loose trot or a swinging canter; the steep upgrades it took at a steady jog and where the slopes pitched sharply down, it wound among the rocks with a faultless sureness of foot.

We were eight miles from Soissons, on the upgrade of a cobbled road, full in the sun.