As you may already know, next Ubuntu release, Lucid Lynx (10.04) is an LTS release. For testers this means one important thing: upgrades should be smooth from either Ubuntu 9.10 or latest Ubuntu LTS release More here

Later in the cycle you will be able to easily install Hardy or Karmic in a spare machine or a virtual machine and upgrade from there. You will have part of the work done. And you can start contributing to your beloved distribution just now